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LINCOLN AT HIS MOTHER'S KNEE. 
{See page 19.) 



THE CHILDREN'S LIFE 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



BY 



M. LOUISE PUTNAM 




CHICAGO 
A. C McCLURG AND COMPANY 



3ivr7A 



^H7 



Copyright 

By a. C. McClurg and Co. 

A.D. 1892 



THE CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD, 
OTfjis itittlc Book 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

By THE Author. 



PREFACE, 




HIS book does not claim to be 
written for the amusement of chil- 
dren. The market is already 
flooded with most desirable works 
of that description ; and it is be- 
lieved that parents will welcome 
an occasional book of pure instruction for young 
minds. The author's experience with children has 
led to the conviction that the late War of Secession 
has created a desire in their minds to know more of 
the machinery of government than is usually found 
in works written for them. 

This impression, together with the absorbing inter- 
est which pertains to all that concerns our late dear 
chief, has led to the preparation of this work. His 
state-papers are so clear and logical, and at the same 



iv Preface. 

time so attractive, even when treating of abstruse 
subjects, that a child of twelve years can gain some 
understanding of them. And surely no richer legacy 
can be bestowed upon our youth than the recorded 
wisdom of our MARTYRED PRESIDENT. 

M. L. P. 
Boston, September, 1892. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Birth of Abraham Lincoln. — Angel Visitors. — He begins 
his Education. — Incidents of his Childhood. — He re- 
moves to Indiana ^3 

CHAPTER II. 

The Journey. — Arrival. — He helps to build a Log-cabin. 

— Continues his Education. — Learns to Shoot. — His 
Mother's Illness and Death. — His Grief. — He obtains 
New Books. — Learns to Write. — His First Letter. — 
His Mother's Funeral Sermon 29 

CHAPTER III. 

His New Mother. — Her Kindness. — Abe goes to School. 
—The Buck's Horn. — The Ruined Book. — School In- 
cidents. — Abe leaves School. — Goes to New Orleans 
in a Flat-boat. — Dangers of the Trip. — Safe Return. — 
Death of his Sister 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

Removal to Illinois. — Incidents of the Journey. — Arrival. 

— He builds a Log-cabin. — Splits Rails. — Goes to seek 
his Fortune. — The Armstrongs. — Goes to New Orleans. 

— Life in New Salem. — Pursues his Education by 
Himself 47 



Co7itents. 



CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

Black Hawk War. — Mr. Lincoln is nominated for the Legis- 
lature, but is defeated. — He buys a Store. — Becomes a 
Surveyor. — He is chosen to the Legislature. — Decides 
to become a Lawyer. — A Long Walk. — He is admitted 
to the Bar. — Trial of Young Armstrong. — Mr. Lin- 
coln's Marriage 51 

CHAPTER VI. 

Explanation of the United States Government. — Presi- 
dential Campaign of 1844. — Lincoln is chosen Repre- 
sentative to Congress. — Annexation of Texas. — The 
Mexican War. — The Wilmot Proviso. — The Tariff . . 58 

CHAPTER VIL 

General Taylor elected President. — Lincoln practises his 
Profession. — Takes the Pohtical Field in 1854. — Repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise. — Judge Trumbull elected 
Senator 



71 



CHAPTER VIIL 



The Republican Party. — The Presidential Campaign of 
1856. — Buchanan's Election. — Kansas, — The Dred 
Scott Decision . . jj 

CHAPTER IX. 

Speeches of Lincoln and Douglas. — Lincoln visits Kan- 
sas, Ohio, and New York. — Speech at Cooper Institute. 
— At Five Points 86 

CHAPTER X. 

The Presidential Campaign of i860. — The Republican 
Convention at Chicago. — Lincoln elected President . . 97 



Cojitents. vii 



CHAPTER XI. 

PAGE 

Commencement of Secession Movement. — General Scott's 
Anxiety. — Defection of Buchanan and his Cabinet. — 
Anderson's Removal to Fort Sumter. — South Carolina 
secedes. - Secret Meeting of Jefferson Davis and other 
Traitors. — Other States secede. — Their Congressmen 
resign their Seats at Washington. — Convention of Se- 
ceded States at Montgomery. — Jefferson Davis is cho- 
sen President, Alexander H. Stephens Vice-President. 
— The Confederacy prepares for War. — Congress tries 
to concihate loi 

CHAPTER XII. 

Lincoln leaves Springfield. — Farewell. — His Arrival at 
Tolono, Indianapohs, Cincinnati, Columbus, Steubenville, 
Pittsburg, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, 
Utica, Albany, Troy. Hudson, Poughkeepsie, Peekskill, 
New York, Trenton. Philadelphia, Harrisburg. — Plot to 
take his Life.— His Safe Arrival at Washington: — Lin- 
coln's Address no 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Lincoln's Inauguration. — Personal Appearance. — Habits 127 

CHAPTER XlV. • 

President Lincoln chooses his Cabinet. — The " Star of the 
West."— Anderson's Letter. — The President's Dilemma. 

— Surrender of Fort Sumter demanded and refused.— 
Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Anderson Surrenders. 

— Exultation of the South. — Indignation of the North . 133 

CHAPTER XV. 
President Lincoln calls for Troops. — Enthusiasm at the 
North. — Virginia secedes. — Letters of Marque. — 
Blockade. — President Lincoln improvises a Navy. — 
Calls for more Troops 15° 



viii Contents. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PAGE 

Secession Sympathizers. — Suspension of the Writ of 
Habeas Corpus. — Recognition of the Rebels as Bel- 
ligerents by Foreign Powers 159 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Special Session of Congress. — The President's Message. — 
Defeat of our Troops at Bull Run. — McClellan succeeds 
McDowell. — Union Successes on the Coast. — Disaster 
at Ball's Bluff. — Scott's Resignation. — McClellan suc- 
ceeds Scott. — Dranesville. — The Trent Affair . . . 168 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The President's Order. — Yorktown. — Williamsburg. — 
Advance of the Army. — McClellan's Retreat to James 
River. — Pope succeeds McClellan. — McClellan .suc- 
ceeds Pope. — South Mountain. — Antietam. — Burn- 
side succeeds McClellan. — Union Successes in the West. 

— Capture of New Orleans. — Report by Congress on 

the Conduct of the War 184 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The President's Position in regard to Slavery. — Meeting of 
Congress. — Confiscation Bill. — The Border States.— 

— Slavery in the Territories and District of Columbia 
abolished. — Emancipation Proclamation. — Confederate 
Cruisers. — Action of Mr. Adams 198 

CHAPTER XX. 

Hooker succeeds Burnside. — Fredericksburg. — Meade 
succeeds Hooker. — Gettysburg. — Vicksburg. — Port 
Hudson. — Dedication of the Battlefield of Gettysburg. 

— The President's Thanksgiving Proclamation . . . 212 



Contents. 



IX 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PAGE 

The French Emperor. - Congress. - The President's .Mes- 
sage .— Arming of the Blacks. —Conscription Bill. —The 
Draft — Riot in New York. — Vallandigham. — Rebel 
Rams 



223 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Con^^ress. — Amnesty Proclamation. — General Grant. — 
Presidential Campaign. — Lincoln re-elected. — His Re- 
ception of the News -42 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Congress. — The President's Message. — A Constitutional 
Amendment. — The Peace Conference. — The Second 
Inauguration of Lincoln 251 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

General Grant.— General Sherman.— Grant's Campaign 
against Richmond. - General Sheridan. - Sherman's 
Grand March. - Savannah. - Fort Fisher. - Peters- 
burg and Richmond Evacuated. — President Lincoln 
enters Richmond. - Surrender of Lee. — Celebrations. 

— The President's Last Speech -59 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The .President at Breakfast. — Cabinet Meeting at the 
Theatre. —Assassination of the President by Booth.— 
The President's Death. — Pubhc Grief and Indignation. 

— His Funeral. — Triumphal March. — Burial. — Re- 
flections "7^ 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Lincoln at his Mother's Knee .... Froiitupiece 

Abe learning to Talk 17 

"An Indian darted out" 21 

Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln 27 

Lincoln starts for School in a new Coon-Skin 

Cap 37 

Abe on the Stump . 43 

Lincoln's First Lesson in Law 73 

Lincoln addressing the Five-Points Mission . . 93 

Off to the War 153 

A Volunteer 188 

"He died for us" 197 

President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Pro- 
clamation 207 

Thanksgiving Day — Home again! 221 

Draft Riots, July 14, 1863 235 

"Bress de Lawd!" 271 

The Drummer-Boy and the President .... 287 

Pax 291 



THE CHILDREN'S 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



CHAPTER I. 



Birth of Abraham Lincohi. — Angel Visitors. — He begins his 
Education. — Incidents of his Childhood. — He removes to 
Indiana. 

N an old log-hut with- 
out a floor, and with 
scarcely anything in it 
that could be called fur- 
niture, in a more miser- 
able and forlorn-looking 
cabin than you, my dear 
children, probably ever 
saw in all your lives, on 
a cold winter's day more 
than seventy-six years 
ago, a little baby was 
born. The precise day on which this event occurred 
was the I2th of February, in the year of our Lord 




14 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

1809. The spot on which this hovel stood was near 
the banks of a river in the State of Kentucky, in what 
was then called Hardin County, but now bears the 
name of La Rue. 

You would hardly believe that a little, tender, new- 
born baby could live, much less grow and thrive, in 
such an uncomfortable place as this poor hut. There 
were great cracks between the logs, where the snow 
and rain and sleet came driving in at pleasure, and at 
night the stars were plainly to be seen shining through 
chinks in the roof; so that with all the fire that could 
possibly be kept roaring up the wide chimney, I 
doubt not we should have found ourselves in a fear- 
fully cold place, if we had made a visit to this 
same log-hut on the 12th of February, in the year 
1809. 

But notwithstanding the poor old cabin was so 
cold and so bare, I think it next to certain that it 
had visitors on that day. I am sure that a band of 
holy angels must have descended from their heavenly 
abode and filled this lowly dwelling with their sacred 
presence, commissioned by the dear Lord himself to 
watch over and protect this infant, whose career w^as 
to be so wonderful. For when our Saviour was upon 
earth he said some very remarkable words about 
children. He said to his disciples one day, *' Take 
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for 



Birth of Abraham Lincoln. 15 

I say unto you that in heaven their angels do ahvays 
behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." 
These words show that the guardian angels of chil- 
dren dwell in the immediate presence of God, and 
indicate how precious the little ones are in his sight. 

This new-born infant was a boy, although I believe 
I omitted to tell you that. He was a fine, healthy 
child, and was called Abraham. His father was 
Thomas Lincoln, and his mother, Nancy Hanks Lin- 
coln. Abraham had one brother, who died in child- 
hood ; he also had a sister, a few years older than 
himself, who lived to womanhood. 

His sister, I doubt not, was very much delighted 
with her little brother Abraham, and very proud when 
her mother allowed her to sing him to sleep, or per- 
haps rock him in the rude cradle which his father 
managed to construct from the scanty materials within 
his reach. As the baby grew older, doubtless his 
sister patiently taught him to use his feet until he 
could walk, and hour by hour said over to him, as 
they lay on the beautiful green grass in front of their 
homely cabin, the words ** father," " mother," *' sister," 
until Abraham could say them himself. She little 
knew, this kind, good girl, that in helping to rear her 
dear baby brother she was doing something for every- 
body in these whole United States. And this should 
teach you, my children, to be patient and kind and 



i6 The Childreri s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

gentle to that little baby brother or sister of yours ; 
for you do not know how good or great the little 
one may become. 

It did not seem probable that this little Abraham, 
whose parents were so very poor, would ever be 
known much beyond a few neighbors as poor and 
obscure as themselves. But I hope to be able to 
show you in these pages that he finally became one 
of the greatest men that ever lived. 

We do not know much with certainty concerning 
his childhood before he was about seven years old. 
It was at this period that Abraham, or '* Abe," as all 
the family called him, began to go to school, — not to 
such an one as you are blessed with, with your pleas- 
ant, comfortable school-houses, and nice, new books, 
and above all your refined and able teachers, but 
to a miserable cabin, not unlike the one he lived in. 
He carried an old, tattered spelling-book under his 
arm, and had a teacher who barely knew how to 
read and write. 

But Abe, as we must now call him, since everybody 
else did, thought it a glorious afi"air to go to school 
at all, as indeed it was. Very few children in that 
region ever saw a school, or knew what it meant. 
Their parents were for the most part very ignorant 
people, and not knowing how to read or write them- 
selves did not consider it necessary that their chil- 




' mm 



The Family Bible. 



dren should be any wiser than they. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lincohi, however, were superior both in talents and 
acquirements to most of their neighbors, yet we 
should consider their education very limited. Mrs. 
Lincoln could read quite well, but, according to some 
authorities, could not write, though the latest claim 
that she could ; but all agree, I believe, that her 
husband could do neither, except that he was able 
to scrawl his name in a rude manner, which he and 
his friends managed to decipher. Even this acquire- 
ment was due to the instruction of his wife. 

But they both knew the value of learning, and de- 
termined to give their son all the advantages they 
could, which at that time did not promise to be many. 
Abe himself was very eager to be taught to read. 
There was no church for many miles around, and on 
Sundays his mother, who was a most excellent Chris- 
tian woman, was accustomed to spend a great portion 
of the day in reading to her family from the Bible. 
Little Abe would listen with the greatest attention 
and delight to those w^onderful Bible stories of Joseph 
and Moses and Samuel and Daniel, and a host of 
others ; but more than all, how the Lord Jesus Christ 
was born in a manger. Abe said to himself, — 

** It would be very nice to read all those stories 
out of a book, as mother does; and I will try as 
hard as ever I can to learn." 



20 The Children s Life of Abraham Lijicoln. 

In consequence of his good resolution he was 
quickly able to spell out easy words, and often car- 
ried home his old spelling-book and studied all the 
evening. 

Abe, as we have said, was very fond of stories ; and 
it was one of his greatest pleasures to hear all about 
the exploits of his grandfather, for whom he was 
named. 

I can imagine that upon some cold, stormy night, 
when the wind was howling and moaning through all 
the cracks and crevices of the miserable dwelling, and 
shaking and rocking it so hard that it seemed every 
instant as if it would tumble down about their ears, 
Mr. Lincoln, who was a kind-hearted man and loved 
to make all his family happy, would pile the old 
chimney high with logs, until there was a glorious, blaz- 
ing fire that made the little cabin as light as day; 
then, sitting down in the corner and taking his little 
son upon his knee, he would say : ** Now, my boy, 
I 'm going to tell you about your grandfather; this 
is a good night for stories." 

Then Abe would sit and listen till his hair stood on 
end and his blood chilled, as his father told him all 
about those perilous times. 

"I was only six years old," he said, "when my 
father was killed. One morning, when he was going 
out to work, he took my two older brothers and me 



Indian Stories. 



21 



with him. We had gone but a few rods from our 
home, when an Indian darted out from behind a tree 
and killed our father before our eyes. My younger 




AN IXDIAN DARTED OUT. 



brother started for the fort, which was a good way off, 
for help ; but Mordecai, my eldest brother, ran to our 
cabin for his musket, for he meant to kill the Indian. 
He climbed up into the loft, where he could see the 
savage plainly, and take good aim. There was some- 



22 The Children's Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

thing on the red man's breast that served Mordecai 
for a target. He aimed at that; and the Indian was 
dead in a minute, for Mordecai was a famous shot. 

" All this time I was alone with my dead father. I 
was too frightened to run or do anything but cry. 
The Indian, just before Mordecai shot him, seeing 
that both of my brothers had gone and left me alone, 
was coming up to grab me and carry me off, when he 
fell dead at my feet. Then I screamed louder than 
ever, and should have gone crazy if Mordecai had 
not rushed out of our cabin and come to me. He 
took me in his arms and tried to soothe me. I can 
see it all as plainly as if it happened yesterday. I 
did not get over the fright for a long time." 

It appears that Abe's grandfather and father, too, 
were born in old Virginia, in Rockingham County. 
But the grandfather decided when his son Thomas, 
Abe's father, was a little boy, to move with all his 
family to the State of Kentucky. This event occurred 
about the year 1780. 

At that time Kentucky was not a State, it was only 
a Territory ; and the country where Mr. Lincoln settled 
was all a wilderness. There were no roads, no paths, 
even, only as the settlers made them by cutting down 
the trees and thick underbrush which grew in their 
way. There were no houses of any description, ex- 
cept a few rude huts, scattered here and there in the 



Perils of the Pioneers. 23 



dense forests. Abe's grandfather selected a spot for 
his dwelhng a mile or two away from anybody else. 
The woods were full of Indians running about in 
every direction. They were very cruel to white 
people, often murdering whole families. 

The first thing to be done in a new country like 
this is to " clear the land." All the trees within a 
certain space must be cut down, and all the under- 
brush cleared away. Sometimes the ground is 
burned over, and various other things are done to 
get the land into a proper condition to be cultivated. 
Whenever these new settlers went out to clear their 
land they were obliged, on account of the barbarity 
of the Indians, to tak'e their guns as well as their axes. 
The guns were kept constantly loaded, that they might 
be discharged at a moment's warning. But notwith- 
standing these precautions, settlers were often killed. 
Abe's grandfather was more fortunate than many 
of his neighbors. He got on very pleasantly with 
the Indians for three or four years, and doubtless he 
and his family began to feel quite secure, and thought 
the Indians would never molest them. But, alas! 
one day, when Mr. Lincoln w^ent out to clear a piece 
of land, the terrible tragedy occurred which we have 
related. 

Abe's grandmother was now a widow and very 
poor, with three boys and two girls to take care of, 



24 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

which was more than she could do without assistance. 
So all the children were obliged to go away from 
home, except Thomas, Abe's father, who lived with 
his mother until he was twelve years old, when he, 
too, left her. 

Little Abe was never tired of hearing about these 
strange, perilous times, and asked his father more 
questions about them than he was able to answer; 
for even at that early age Abe showed a very dis- 
criminating mind, and wanted a reason for every- 
thing. When he had been a short time at the school 
of Mr. Hazel, — for that was his master's name, — and 
was just beginning to read short and easy words, his 
education was interrupted. 

Mr. Thomas Lincoln, who had for a long time been 
discontented in Kentucky on account of its being a 
slave State, where it was considered a disgrace to 
work for one's own living, and where poor white peo- 
ple often did not fare as well as the slaves themselves, 
now decided that he could not live there any longer, 
and that he must sell his little farm and move away. 

It was not very easy finding a purchaser for so 
small and poor an estate as his ; but at length a man 
made his appearance who said he would buy it if he 
and Mr. Lincoln could agree upon the terms. Mr. 
Lincoln's price was three hundred dollars. This 
man said he had but little money, but had some 



The Price of the Farm. 25 



whiskey, and would give ten barrels of whiskey 
worth twenty-eight dollars a barrel, and twenty dol- 
las in money, for the farm. You will see, children, if 
you reckon 'it up, that this amounted to Mr. Lincoln's 
price. He did not altogether like the proposition, 
however, because he wished to move away quite a 
long distance into another State, and if he could sell 
his "farm for money, he could put that in his pocket, 
where it would give him no trouble. 

But ten barrels of whiskey would n't go into any- 
body's pocket, and it was very hard telling what to 
do with it. He did not want to drink it because he 
was a temperate man, and he could not sell it there ; 
so if he took it, it was plain that he must carry it 
with him. It was a difficult question to decide how 
to move such cumbersome property through a coun- 
try where for much of the distance there was no road 
at all. After some reflection, however, and talking 
the matter over with his wife, who was a woman of 
excellent judgment, he decided to accept the man's 
offer and take the whiskey and the twenty dollars. 

As I have already told you, Mr. Lincoln's cabin 
stood near the banks of a river. It is called the 
Rolling Fork River, and empties into the Ohio. You 
know that th^ Ohio is a large river, separating the 
State of Kentucky from the State of Indiana. 

Mr. Lincoln decided to seek his future home in 



26 TJie CJiildreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Indiana. So he concluded to build a flat-boat, — a 
rude sort of an affair not unlike a raft, which was 
often used at that time for transporting produce 
from one place to another. 

Mr. Lincoln accordingly began his boat; and al- 
though little Abe was not yet eight years old, he 
was of great assistance to his father. When the boat 
was finished and launched, Mr. Lincoln loaded it 
with the ten barrels of whiskey, a few household 
goods, and some carpenter's tools, and pushed off 
for Lidiana. He intended to float down the Rolling 
Fork into the Ohio, and then at a proper place 
cross the Ohio River. He succeeded in getting boat 
and cargo safely to the Ohio ; but pretty soon after 
this was accomplished his boat upset, and down went 
whiskey and everything else, as well as himself, into 
the water. 

Fortunately there was no other person on the boat 
at the time. He had thought best to leave his 
family behind until he had first selected a suitable 
place for a home, when he was to return for them. 
Thus he was all alone. But some men on the op- 
posite bank witnessed the accident, and called out 
to Mr. Lincoln to hold on to his boat till they could 
get to him. Another boat was at hand, into which 
they quickly jumped and were soon at his side. 
They succeeded in righting Mr. Lincoln's craft and 



Seeking a New Home. 



27 



saving several barrels of the whiskey and a few other 
things, but all the rest was swept away. 

Mr. Lincoln, however, was n't a bit discouraged ; 
he started off again quite cheerfully with the remains 
of the wreck, and proceeding down the river to 
Thompson's Ferry, landed safely in Indiana. There 







BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINXOLX. 



he found a man who agreed to guide him into the in- 
terior of the country and take the boat in payment for 
his services. To this Mr. Lincoln was glad to con- 
sent, as he had no further use for the boat. Mr. Lin- 
coln's place of destination was Spencer County, and 
to reach it was a formidable undertaking. It was 
necessary to cut a road the entire distance through a 
dense and almost impenetrable forest. 



28 The Childreiis Life of Abraham Lincobt. 

By dint of great perseverance and much hard labor 
eighteen miles of this difficult work were accomplished. 
But Mr. Lincoln often said, in speaking of it after- 
ward, that one of the hardest things he ever did was 
to get from Thompson's Ferry to Spencer County. 
He looked about this new country which it had cost 
him so much toil to reach, and at length selected a 
spot for his new home. Having done this, he con- 
signed his small property to one of the neighbors, 
and set out on foot for Kentucky. His family were 
waiting for him ; and in a few days their prepara- 
tions had been completed, and they were all ready 
to bid good-by to the old homestead and proceed to 
Indiana. 



^ 



CHAPTER II. 

The Journey. — Arrival. — He helps to build a Log-cabin.— 
Continues his Education. — Learns to Shoot. — His Mother's 
Illness and Death. — His Grief. — He obtains New Books. 
— Learns to Write. — His First Letter. — His jMothefs 
Funeral Sermon. 

F you could have seen Mr. Lincoln and his 
family equipped for this journey, children, 
I think you would have laughed. They 
had no wagon, and were to go on horse- 
back. Abe's mother and sister were both mounted 
upon one horse. Abe had an animal all to himself, 
as had also his father ; but their horses were loaded 
down with bundles and packages strapped on in 
every direction, and presented a very grotesque ap- 
pearance. Little space was left for the riders ; in- 
deed, Mr. Lincoln walked most of the way, leading 
his horse. In this manner they proceeded seven 
whole days over a wild and uninhabited region, tying 
their horses to trees when they were too tired or too 
hungry to go on any farther, and for their own refresh- 
ment eating a bit of dry bread or cold meat which 
they had brought with them. 



30 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

And when night came, what do you suppose they 
did for a bedroom? Why, they spread a blanket on 
the ground, and all lay down together under a tree, 
with another blanket over them, the green boughs 
arching high overhead. There they all slept as 
soundly as you do, tucked into your nice, warm beds. 
At the end of seven days Mr. Lincoln told his family 
they had reached their new home; but they had only 
come to a great clump of green trees, without any 
house at all. 

They were obliged to sleep on the ground as usual 
that night; but in the morning they awoke quite re- 
freshed, and Mr. Lincoln told Abe that he must help 
him clear some land on which to build a cabin. So 
Abe took his hatchet and went to work, chopping 
away right merrily. By and by a neighbor who lived 
two or three miles away came to help them, and 
brought them something good for dinner, which you 
may be sure was very acceptable. They all worked, 
Mrs. Lincoln lending her aid, and m a short time had 
constructed a temporary shelter, in the form of a 
shed enclosed on three sides, the fourth being open 
to the weather. 

This was better than nothing, and served them for 
a year, by which time they had erected a log-cabin, 
about eighteen feet square. This rude structure con- 
sisted of but one room, and had no floor but the 



TJie Young Hunter. 31 

beaten ground. A chamber, however, was contrived 
for Abe, by placing some slabs across the logs over- 
head, and a rude ladder served for a staircase. A 
bedstead, a table, and four stools were hewn out of 
the rough logs, and then the house was pronounced 
finished and furnished. The shed was built in the 
autumn. 

As soon as the winter set in, Abe began to study 
again, with his mother for a teacher. She took great 
pains with him, and he amply repaid her by improv- 
ing rapidly in his reading and spelling, and before the 
winter was over had mastered their whole library, 
which consisted of three books, — the Bible, the Cate- 
chism, and the old spelling-book from which Abe had 
learned to read. 

But he did not spend all his time in study ; no child 
could do that. Sometimes with his father he chopped 
down trees, and sometimes he practised rifle-shooting. 
It was of great importance in those new countries to 
be a good shot, because there were no butcher's carts 
or meat-shops or markets of any kind. When a piece 
of meat was wanted for dinner, somebody must go 
out and shoot some game. Abe practised until he 
became an excellent shot, and one day killed a wild 
turkey, which made them a good dinner. 

They lived in this manner very happily for about 
two years, when one day Abe's mother was taken 



32 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

very ill. The family were much alarmed, and tried 
to do something for her relief. The neighbors came 
and were very kind, but nobody could think of any- 
thing which made the poor woman any better. The 
doctor could not be sent for, because he lived forty 
miles away ; so the poor, sick woman was obliged to 
lie and suffer upon her hard bed, with nothing to ease 
the dreadful pain. 

One day she called little Abe to her side, and told 
him she thought she was going to die. Poor, poor 
child ! what terrible words were these ! He loved his 
mother with all the strength of his loving heart, and 
he did not see how he could live without her. His 
mother tried to calm him, and told him he must lis- 
ten to her dying words and ahvays remember and 
obey them, and then some day God would let him 
come and live with her in a beautiful world where 
nobody would ever be sick or die, or have to say 
good-by any more. 

She told him he must always remember to keep 
God's day holy, as she had taught him ; that he must 
never tell lies, or say wicked words ; and above all, 
that every day he must read a chapter in the Bible, 
and say his prayers every night and morning. Little 
Abe promised to mind his mother faithfully, and we 
have reason to think he did so as long as he lived. 

Mrs. Lincoln was in every respect a remarkable 



Death of Mrs. Lincoln. 33 

woman. She was truly Christian in all her deeds, and 
little Abe knew that his mother always practised the 
very things she required of him. It was, doubtless, 
owing in a great degree to his mother's influence that 
he was so honest, truthful, and upright all his life. 

Abe's mother grew worse and worse, and after a 
few weeks of severe suffering died and left her stricken 
family. Poor little Abe sobbed out to one of the 
neighbors who came in : "I have n't any mother now." 

Amid many tears, prayers were said over the dear 
body, and then they carried it out and buried it under 
a beautiful tree. This was all the funeral they could 
have at that time, because there was no clergyman for 
many miles around. 

Abe grieved sorely for his dear mother, and was so 
lonely without her that he did not know what to do 
with himself. His father felt very sorry for him, and 
sought to comfort him by saying that he would try to 
get a new book for him to read. But a book was a 
very difficult thing to obtain in that region. No 
family could boast of more than a very few, and 
many and many a house had not one. But soon 
afterward Mr. Lincoln visited a friend who lived 
about twenty miles distant, and there, to his great 
delight, he found an old, soiled copy of Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress. He instantly borrowed it for 
Abe. When he got home and showed this treasure 



34 TJie CJiildrejis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

to his son, the boy's eyes sparkled, and he was so de- 
hghted that he could neither eat nor sleep. He fairly 
devoured the book, and was by no means content 
with one reading. When he was about half-way 
through it the second time, a lady came to see him 
and brought another book, iEsop's Fables, which 
she gave to Abe for a present. This was a prize, 
indeed, and Abe felt as happy and rich as a king. 
He read these fables until he could repeat them ; and 
some persons have thought this book developed in 
him that remarkable love for stories for which he was 
so famous all his life. 

Not long after this another blessing fell to Abe. 
A young man moved into the neighborhood who 
knew how to write, and he offered to teach Abe if he 
desired it. This was a splendid offer, and Abe 
accepted it with all his heart. He wanted to begin 
that very day. His teacher could not attend to it 
then, but promised to do so very soon. 

Abe's writing-book was the top of the table, and 
his pen a piece of chalk. He wrote all over the 
cabin stools, and sometimes on the trunks of trees, 
with a stick burned at one end, for his father was too 
poor to give him pen or paper. Notwithstanding all 
these disadvantages he made rapid improvement in 
this, as in everything else he undertook, and soon 
was able to write his name. Once with a stick he 



Mrs. Lincoln's Funeral Sermon. 35 

wrote " Abraham Lincoln " on the ground in his 
father's corn-field. Little did he dream that the 
name which he thus wrote on the soil of Lidiana 
would one day be inscribed by his public acts upon 
every one of these United States in letters of gold, 
that shall shine beyond the brightness of the sun 
so long as the world shall stand. 

In less than a year from the time when he be- 
gan this branch of his education Abe was able to 
write a letter for his father. This letter was an invi- 
tation to the clergyman who used sometimes to 
preach for them in Kentucky, to come and deliver 
a funeral sermon at the grave of Mrs. Lincoln. The 
letter was about three months on its way. 

The minister accepted the mvitation, and upon his 
arrival word was sent around to all the neighbors. 
People came from far and near to hear the sermon, 
some from a distance of fifteen miles. Some trav- 
elled on horseback, some in ox-carts, while many 
came on foot. It was a great event, as they seldom 
heard a sermon of any kind ; but they were particu- 
larly desirous to hear this, for Mrs. Lincoln was 
much loved and respected. It was soon noised 
abroad that Abe wrote the letter inviting the min- 
ister to come, for Mr. Lincoln was so proud of it 
that he told of it. After this Abe had plenty of let- 
ters to write. All the neighbors employed him to 
write theirs. 



CHAPTER III. 

His New Mother, — Her Kindness. — Abe goes to School. — 
The Buck's Horn. — The Ruined Book. — School Inci- 
dents. — Abe leaves School. — Goes to New Orleans in a 
Flat-boat. — Dangers of the Trip. — Safe Return. — Death 
of his Sister. 



back. 



BOUT one year 
after the death of 
his wife Mr. Lin- 
coln married Mrs. 
Sally Johnston, a 
widow, with three 
children of her 
own. She was a 
superior woman 
and an excellent 
mother. Abe 
loved her dearly, 
and almost felt as 
if his own dear 
mother had come 
Mrs. Lincoln was also very fond of Abe, 




IMCOLM' 
STARTS 'FOi ' 

SCHOOL' I N'A 
UEN'COON'SKVA 
CAPi - _ 




=5^^ 



Honest Abe. 39 



and treated him with the greatest kindness, doing 
all she could to promote his education. 

About this time a certain Mr. Crawford moved into 
the neighborhood and opened a school He could 
read and write, and also knew something about 
arithmetic. Abe's mother, as we shall henceforth 
call her, wanted very much to have Abe attend Mr. 
Crawford's school. So she dressed him up as nicely 
as she could. She made him a cap out of a raccoon 
skin, and a jacket and trousers of dressed buckskin. 
His father hunted up an old arithmetic for him; and 
thus equipped, Abe started off for school, very proud 
and happy. He was persevering, industrious, and 
obedient; and Mr. Crawford became very much at- 
tached to him. 

But Abe's greatest charm in his teacher's eyes was 
his perfect truthfulness. Mr. Crawford said he did 
not think anything could induce the boy to tell a lie. 
It is related that a buck's horns were nailed to the 
back of Mr. Crawford's house, and one day they were 
found broken. Mr. Crawford went into the school- 
room and said, " Boys, somebody has broken m\' 
buck's horns. Do any of you know who did it?" 
** Yes, sir," said Abe, '* I did it. I was hanging on 
them with my whole weight, and they broke right 
off. I did not think they would break or I should 
not have done it, and I am very sorry." This frank 



40 The Childreiis Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

avowal of the whole truth pleased Mr. Crawford so 
much that he forgot all about the buck's horns and 
forgave Abe immediately. 

But Abe soon had a still stronger test of his truth- 
fulness and honesty. Some months after this occur- 
rence, and after Abe had finished his term of school, 
he found that Mr. Crawford owned Ramsay's " Life of 
Washincrton." He had read Weems's ** Life of Wash- 
ington," but he wanted very much to read this one 
too ; so with his father's permission he borrowed the 
book. Mr. Crawford was very happy to lend it, and 
told Abe to keep it as long as he chose. Abe was 
delighted, and promised to be very careful. He meant 
to keep his word ; but alas ! one fatal night, when he 
had nearly completed it, a violent storm arose, and 
the wind blew the rain through a crack in the side of 
the house all over the borrowed book. When he 
came down in the morning, it was drenched through 
and almost ruined. Poor fellow ! he did n't know 
what to do, but he went and told his mother. She 
kindly sympathized with him, and carefully dried the 
book before the fire; but the covers were warped, and 
its appearance was spoiled. 

Abe soon decided what to do. He took the book 
under his arm and walked over to Mr. Crawford's, 
and showing it to him told him how it happened. 
" Now, sir," said Abe, when he had finished the story, 



The Peacemaker. 41 



'* I must pay you for this book, but I have n't a cent 
of money in the world ; but I will do any kind of 
work for you that you ask, until you think I have 
paid for it." So Abe promised to cut a whole field 
of corn-fodder, and it took him three days to do it. 
As he was about to leave the house, Mr. Crawford 
said, *' Since you are to work to pay for the book, it 
is yours, and you can take it home." " No, sir," re- 
plied Abe; "the book is mine when I have paid for 
it. I have not yet done the work." And he would 
not take it until the task was accomplished. Abe thus 
endeared himself very much to Mr. Crawford, who 
felt sure that here was a boy who could be trusted 
anywhere. 

Abe's schoolmates did not lo\'e him less than did 
his teacher. They used to call him their peacemaker; 
for if any dispute arose among them, Abe could always 
settle it. If any accident occurred, Abe was always 
willing to take more than his share of the blame. He 
was very tender-hearted, too, and could not endure 
to see pain inflicted upon animals. If he saw his 
playmates torturing a frog or a fly for sport, as 
boys sometimes will do, Abe always persuaded them 
out of it. He often amused his companions by mount- 
ing a stump and making speeches to them. 

As I have already told you, there were no churches 
in that region, but occasionally a travelling minister 



42 The Childreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

came among them, and then a meeting was called, 
and Sunday was observed in the usual manner. Abe 
had such an excellent memory that when he had 
once heard a thing he remembered it so correctly as 
to be able to repeat a great portion of it. Accord- 
ingly, the next day after a visit from one of these 
travelling ministers, Abe would mount a stump, and 
preach the sermon over again to his playmates almost 
exactly as it was delivered the day before. 

He was a most generous boy, too, and was always 
willing to deny himself a pleasure for the sake of 
obliging others. 

And another thing: he w^as never late at school; 
the boys often said that he was the first one on the 
ground. Abe's term of school with Mr. Crawford 
amounted to only a few months, so that all the school 
education he ever had in his life amounted to less 
than one year. His parents regretted exceedingly 
that they could not do more for him, but they were 
very poor and needed his help. But they made great 
efforts to obtain new books for him. His mother 
bought the ''Life of Henry Clay" for him, w4iich 
greatly interested him. He admired the character of 
Henry Clay, and ever after called himself a ** Clay 
Whig." Abe also possessed the ''Life of Benjamin 
Franklin" and "Plutarch's Lives." 

While under Mr. Crawford's tuition he advanced in 



The Wood-Chopper 



43 




ABE ON THE STUMP. 



.1 .• oc f.r as the rule of three, or simple pro- 



44 I^Jj-^ Childi'ens Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

axe, and being strong and healthy and large for his 
age, was able to accomplish almost as much as a 
man. But his evenings were spent in hard study; he 
did not mean that what little knowledge he had ob- 
tained should rust. When he could no longer have 
a teacher, it is wonderful how much he was able to 
accomplish. The neighbors looked upon him as 
a prodigy, and his parents were very proud of him, as 
well they might be of a son who was so honest, ener- 
getic, persevering, and industrious. 

Abe passed his youth in this manner, assisting his 
father in various kinds of outdoor labor until he was 
nineteen years of age. 

One day about this time a man came to see Mr. 
Lincoln, and said he should like to hire Abe to go 
to New Orleans for him on a flat-boat, and that he 
would give him ten dollars a month. 

Abe's eyes sparkled when he heard of this propo- 
sition. Ten dollars a month was a great deal of 
money for him to earn. It looked like a small 
fortune to him. Besides, he wanted to see some- 
thing of the world, for he had never been more than 
a few miles beyond his father's cabin. This man 
who wished to employ him had a son about Abe's 
age, and the plan was to have these two boys take 
a flat-boat loaded with various stores to New Orleans. 

Mr. Lincoln told Abe he could go if he chose, 



Dowti the Mississippi. 45 

although he would find it very hard work. But as 
Abe cared no more for hard work than you care for 
play, he said that was nothing, and he should like to 
go. So the expedition was decided upon, and Abe 
seems to have been the captain. 

The flat-boat was loaded up, and when all was ready 
the two boys set off in great glee; but they found 
that the trip not only caused them some hard work, 
but was attended with considerable danger, as you 
shall hear. Their course was to float down the Ohio 
River into the Mississippi, and then down the Missis- 
sippi to New Orleans. 

When the weather was pleasant, they had a fine 
time. They floated as far as they could during the 
day, and at night pulled the boat up alongside the 
river's bank and tied it fast ; then spreading a blanket 
upon the deck, they lay down and slept soundly until 
morning. When they awoke they washed themselves 
in the river, cooked their breakfast, and pushed off 
again. But sometimes violent storms would come 
on, which drenched them to the skin, for they had 
no cabin, and no roof but the sky. However, they 
did not mind such trifles, but floated along as gay as 
birds until they arrived at New Orleans. And here 
began the danger to which I alluded. 

One night they had tied the boat as usual along- 
side the bank, and were just ready to go to sleep 



46 The Childrcii s Life of AbraJiani Lincoln. 

when Abe heard a sHght noise. Arousing his com- 
panion, he told him to hsten. Presently they de- 
scried approaching through the darkness a figure 
black as night, and directly a stout negro jumped 
upon the boat. Abe seized a club and beat the 
fellow off; then another stalwart form and yet an- 
other came in sight, until it appeared that a party 
of seven had come to rob them. Abe made good use 
of his club, — his only weapon, — and with the help 
of his companion the robbers were soon put to flight. 
For greater safety the boat was now untied and 
pushed out into the middle of the river. 

Soon after this event the two lads set out for home 
with a pocketful of money, — the proceeds of their 
cargo. In due time they arrived safe among their 
friends, and were not a little proud of their voyage 
of eighteen hundred miles in a flat-boat. Abe's em- 
ployer was highly gratified with the results of the 
expedition, and told him that he had made excellent 
bargains and was a capital merchant. Thus Abe's 
first experience in business was, on the whole, very 
pleasant. His heart was soon made sad, however, 
by the death of his sister, which happened one year 
after her marriage. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Removal to Illinois. — Incidents of the Journey. — Arrival. — 
He builds a Log-cabin. — Splits Rails. — Goes to seek his 
Fortune. — The Armstrongs. — Goes to New Orleans. — 
Life in New Salem. — Pursues his Education by Himself. 




THOMAS LINCOLN 
now began to contemplate 
another move. Almost 
fabulous accounts had 
reached him of the rich- 
ness of the prairie lands 
in Illinois, and he thought 
he should like to go thith- 
er and try his fortune. 
There were two other families in the neighborhood 
who had the same desire, but nothing was fully de- 
cided upon until the month of March, in the year 
1830; then preparations were made for removal. 
Abe was now twenty-one years old, and was a most 
important aid to all concerned. The journey this 
time was to be performed in an ox-cart. The women, 
children, and furniture were to be packed into this 



48 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

clumsy vehicle, drawn by two yoke of oxen, while 
the men were to walk and drive the team. In this 
manner they started for Illinois, Abe taking charge 
of one yoke of oxen. 

The journey, which was a very tedious one and 
sometimes dangerous, occupied two weeks and a day. 
They came at length to the Kaskaskia River, which 
had overflowed its banks till the adjoining meadows 
were several feet under water. The w^ay now looked 
too dangerous to proceed any farther, and most of 
the party advised that some other road should be 
sought. But Abe said it would never do to give it 
up so ; that he was not afraid to be pilot and go 
ahead, and that if he went under water the rest could 
turn back. But Abe was not destined to go under 
water. He pushed boldly on, and w^as followed by 
the others. All finally reached dry ground in safety, 
although for three miles the water came up to the 
men's waists. 

Their destination, which was nearly in the centre 
of the State, was on the north side of Sangamon 
River, ten miles west of Decatur, in the County of 
Macon. Here the party at length arrived. Mr. Lin- 
coln selected ten acres of land for his farm, and with 
Abe's assistance immediately erected a log-cabin for 
the family to live in. Then Abe, who was very skil- 
ful in the business, split rails enough, with the assist- 



Abe Leaves Home. 



49 



ance of John Hanks, to fence in the whole ten acres. 
These are the celebrated rails that have made sucli a 
noise in the world. Little did Abe imagine, when 
splitting them, of the use to which some of them 
would be put. We shall hear more about them by 
and by. 

Abe remained with his father about a year longer, 
until he saw him comfortably settled in his new home, 
and then announced his intention of going away to 
seek his fortune. Mr. Lincoln could ofter no objec- 
tion to this, for Abe had been a faithful son ; yet both 
he and his wife were very sorry to part with him. 

Abe went away to Menard County, near Petersburg, 
and worked all summer on a farm for a man b}' the 
name of Armstrong. This man had a son not far 
from Abe's age, though he was very far from being as 
good a young man. In truth, he was a very wild 
young man. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong quickly saw 
what a good youth Abe was, and urged him to remain 
with them, hoping his good influence might be of 
benefit to their graceless son. Abe accepted their 
kind invitation, and continued with them during the 
winter, pursuing his studies by himself. There was 
no work to be done on the farm during the winter, 
and Abe could not afiford to pay his board in money; 
but the Armstrongs did not care for that, for they 
wanted him for his company. And so he had a fine 

4 



50 The CJiildren's Life of AbraJiam Lmcohi. 

opportunity for study, and never forgot their kind- 
ness. You shall hear by and by how he afterward 
repaid it. 

When spring came, Abe made another expedition 
to New Orleans on a flat-boat ; but this time he built 
the boat which he used. He was as successful in 
this trip as he had been in the former one, and upon 
his return his employer placed him in charge of his 
mill and store, in a town called New Salem. 

Abe became very popular at this place, and the 
store was a favorite resort ; for he was so prompt and 
exact in all his business dealings that he won the con- 
fidence of all. It was at this period that he received 
the name of " Honest Abe," a title by which he was 
known through life. Being very agreeable in his man- 
ners, and always having some pleasant story to tell, 
beside being always ready to lend a helping hand to 
those in trouble, he soon became a universal favorite. 

But with all his business cares, Abe never for a 
moment lost sight of his studies. He procured a 
grammar, and with the occasional help of a clerk in 
the store mastered its contents. He found it a pretty 
diflicult study, but that did not discourage him. Every 
leisure moment during the day found him with his 
book, and he often studied half the night. This is 
the way, my children, that Abraham Lincoln got his 
education. 



CHAPTER V. 

Black Hawk War. — Mr. Lincoln is nominated for the Legisla- 
ture, but is defeated. — He buys a Store. — Becomes a Sur- 
veyor. — He is chosen to the Legislature. — Decides to 
become a Lawyer. — A Long Walk. — He is admitted to 
the Bar. — Trial of Young Armstrong. — Mr. Lincoln's 
Marriage. 




ic^^ HEN things had been going on some months 
fJm§? r in this manner, a war broke out. It was 
called the Black Hawk War. During the 
previous year the Sac and other Indian 
tribes, had caused some trouble, until at length it 
could no longer be borne, and in the year 1832 war 
was declared. 

The Governor of Illinois called for troops, and Abe 
immediately enlisted. His companions quickly fol- 
lowed his example ; and a company was soon formed 
in New Salem, of which Abe, greatly to his astonish- 
ment, was chosen captain. 

The company began their march to the seat of war 
April 27, having enlisted for thirty days. At the 
expiration of this time Abe re-enlisted as a private 
for the same period, and when the second term was 



52 TJie CJiildrcjis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

up again re-enlisted, and remained with the regiment 
until the close of the war. He told his friends after 
his return that although he had n't seen any live, 
fighting Indians, he had fought a good many bloody 
battles with the mosquitoes. 

Abe had not been long at home before a new 
field of action was opened to him. Some gentlemen 
called upon him one day before he went to the war, 
and told him that the people wished to nominate him 
for the Legislature. Before leaving, he announced in 
a hand-bill circular, according to the custom of the 
time, that he would consent to be a candidate. 

I fear you will hardly understand this, children, 
without a little explanation. A body of men meet 
every year in the capital city of every State in the 
Union, in a building called the State House, to dis- 
cuss the interests of the public and to make laws for 
the people. This body is called the Legislature, and 
the men composing it are chosen by the people. 
When a member is to be chosen, several candidates, 
as they are called, are usually nominated, and every 
citizen has a right to vote for the man he likes best. 
The candidate who receives the largest number of 
votes is elected. 

Now, although Abe received a great many votes, he 
did not have enough to elect him. He was now out 
of business ; so he thought he would try being a mer- 



TJie Young Legislator. 53 

chant. He purchased a store and a stock of goods 
on credit because he had no money; but he hoped to 
make enough by and by to pay for them. He was 
also appointed postmaster. 

The store proving very unprofitable, he soon sold 
out, and turned his attention to the surveying or 
measuring of land. Abe had not been taught how 
to do this ; but he bought a book containing the 
proper instructions, and, with the assistance of a gen- 
tleman by the name of John Calhoun, soon under- 
stood the matter very well. He bought a compass 
and chain, and began his new work. This was 
quite a profitable business, and Abe made a very 
good living by it. He continued to survey land 
until the month of August, 1834, when he was again 
nominated for the Legislature and chosen by a large 
majority. 

Very soon after Abe became a member of the Leg- 
islature, he made up his mind to begin the study 
of law. And now I think we must call him Mr. Lin- 
coln, for by this time he had attained the age of 
twenty-five years; yet he was called ''Honest Old 
Abe" as long as he lived. 

As soon as he had decided to become a lawyer, a 
friend offered to lend him the necessary books. To 
obtain them, however, he had to walk to Springfield, a 
distance of twenty-two miles. The journey there and 



54 The CJiildrcn's Life of Abraham Lincobi. 

back again was performed in one day, — a pleasant 
little walk of forty-four miles. And what is more, he 
carried in his arms on the homeward trip four heavy 
law-books. And besides all that, he studied half the 
way, and on the road learned his first lesson in law. 
When he got home this lesson was correctly recited 
to a friend. Thus you will observe his great indus- 
try. He could not afford to waste a moment. 

He studied so diligently that in about two years, 
or in 1836, he was fitted to enter upon the practice 
of law. The following year he was admitted to the 
bar, and soon after left New Salem and went to live in 
Springfield, where he became a partner of the Hon. 
John T. Stuart, the gentleman who loaned him the 
law-books. 

Mr. Lincoln was elected to the Legislature four 
times, — first in 1834, as I have told you; then at 
every succeeding election till 1840. 

I hope, children, you have not forgotten Mr. and 
Mrs. Armstrong, who were so kind to Mr. Lincoln 
the year he went out into the world to seek his 
fortune ; nor how I told you that he was able after- 
wards to return their kindness. It happened in this 
way. The character of Mr. Armstrong's son did not 
improve. He continued to be a great sorrow to his 
parents while they both lived. His father was now 
dead, and he was no comfort to his mother. One 



A Welcome Letter. 



55 



night he went to a camp-meeting. There were several 
fellows present as bad as himself, and some much 
worse, who had not come for a religious purpose, but 
to make fun and disturb the meeting. They behaved 
so badly that by and by the affair ended in a riot, and 
a man was killed. 

The murder was charged to this young Armstrong, 
who was immediately arrested and carried off to jail 
to await his trial. His mother, poor woman ! was 
now in great distress. She knew her son was bad, 
but she did not believe that he would commit murder ; 
besides, he was the only one she had in all the world 
to depend upon. It was a sad case. The poor widow 
could not afford to pay a lawyer to examine the evi- 
dence and see if there was any chance for her son's 
acquittal. She expected that he would be condemned 
to die. But one day, when things were at the darkest, 
she received a very unexpected letter, which ran thus : 

Springfield, Illinois, September, i8— . 
Dear Mrs. Arimstrong. — I have just heard of your deep 
affliction, and the arrest of your son for murder. I can 
hardly believe that he can be guilty of the crime alleged 
against him. It does not seem possible. I am anxious that 
he should have a fair trial, at any rate ; and gratitude for 
your long-continued kindness to me in adverse circumstances 
prompts me to offer my humble services gratuitously in his 
behalf It will afford me an opportunity to requite, in a 



56 TJie CJiildrciis Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

small degree, the favors I received at your hand, and that 

of your lamented husband, when your roof afforded me 

grateful shelter, without money and without price. 

Yours truly, 

Abraham Lincoln. 

This noble letter lifted a great weight from Mrs. 
Armstrong's heart. She felt as if God had sent it in 
answer to her prayers, and that her son would yet be 
found innocent. The day for trial came, and the ev^i- 
dence brought against this young man appeared so 
strong that it did not seem as if there could be a ray 
of hope for him. Mr. Lincoln sat quietly and listened 
to every word. When all the evidence had been 
given in, he arose and reviewed the whole testimony. 

One witness had said that when the murder was 
committed the moon was shining brightly, and he 
saw the prisoner inflict the death-blow. 

Mr. Lincoln turned to the jurymen and said: 
" Gentlemen of the jury, this witness states that 
upon a certain hour of a certain evening the murder 
was committed, and, the moon shining brightly at the 
time, he saw the prisoner inflict the death-wound. 
Now, gentlemen of the jury, by consulting your alma- 
nacs you will find that the moon had not yet risen at 
the hour of the evening on which witness states that 
he saw it shining brightly. Thus he has perjured 
himself, and his testimony is good for nothing." 



You arc Fi^c 



57 



Mr. Lincoln's whole plea for young Armstrong was 
so touching that it drew tears from many eyes, and 
so convincing that before he had finished all felt sure 
that the prisoner was innocent. It was nearly night 
when Mr. Lincoln concluded with these words: " If 
justice is done, as I believe it will be, before the 
sun shall set it will shine upon my client a free 
man." 

The jury retired, and at the expiration of half an 
hour returned with the verdict, " Not guilty." 

The poor widow dropped into the arms of her son, 
who, tenderly supporting her, told her to behold him 
free and innocent. Then crying out, " Where is Mr. 
Lincoln?" he rushed across the court-room and 
grasped his deliverer's hand without uttering a word ; 
his emotion was so great that he could not speak. 
Mr. Lincoln pointed to the west and said, " It is not 
yet sundown, and jj/<?// arc freer 

Mr. Lincoln now practised law for several years, 
and soon became eminent in his profession. Since 
coming to Springfield he had lived in the family of 
his friend, Hon. William Butler; but at length he re- 
solved to take unto himself a wife and have a home 
of his own. 

Accordingly, on the 4th of November, in the year 
1842, he was married to Miss Mary Todd, daughter 
of Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. 



CHAPTER VL 

Explanation of the United States Government. — Presidential 
Campaign of 1844. — Lincoln is chosen Representative to 
Congress. — Annexation of Texas. — The Mexican War. — 
The Wilmot Proviso. — The Tariff. 




R. LINCOLN did not allow the attractions 
of his home nor the duties of his profes- 
sion to absorb all his attention. He never 
neglected political matters, and was one 
of the leading members of the Whig party in Illinois. 
In 1840 and also in 1847 ^^^ ^^'^s their candidate for 
Presidential Elector. 

Now, that you may understand exactly what this 
means, and also all that I am going to tell you about 
Mr. Lincoln's public life, I think I must explain to 
you, in the first place, how these United States are 
governed. 

Each State, as I have already told you, has a govern- 
ment of its own, which is vested in its Legislature ; and 
all the States together make the United States. Now, 
in order that these States may always remain United 
States, and form one great and noble country, instead 



The Govf.rnmcnt of the United States. 59 



of a great many small and independent countries, 
you will see that every State must be governed by 
the same laws. F'or this purpose, a good many years 
ago, when this nation was in its infanc}% some wise 
men from several different States met together, and 
after thinking about the matter a great deal, and talk- 
ing it over very carefully a great many times, they at 
length drew up a very remarkable and wonderful 
paper called the Constitution of the United States. 
After a while all the different States agreed to adopt 
it; that is, they promised to mind what it said. 

This paper, or Constitution, said that the government 
of the United States should consist of three branches : 
the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. 

The legislative power — that is, the power by 
which the laws of the country are made — is vested 
in a body of men called Congress. Congress con- 
sists of two houses, — the Senate and- the House of 
Representatives. 

The Senate is formed as follows : The Legislature 
of each State in the Union can select any two men 
who are properly qualified as the Senators of their 
own State. These Senators are chosen for six years ; 
but the matter is so arranged that one third of the 
whole body of Senators goes out of office every two 
years. Thus every State in the Union, however 
small, has two Senators in Congress. 



6o TJie CJiildreiis Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

The House of Rep'.esentatives is formed somewhat 
differently. The people of each State choose a cer- 
tain number of ni'^n to be the representatives of their 
own State. The precise number to be chosen de- 
pends upon the number of inhabitants. But all the 
States together can send at present (1892) three 
hundred and thirty-two Representatives. These are 
chosen for two years. Thus Congress now con- 
sists of twice as many Senators as there are States, 
and three hundred and thirty-two Representatives ; 
and every State, however small, can send at least one 
Representative. 

Now, this great body of men must have some one 
person for a head. Every ship must have a captain, 
and the ship of State must have its captain too, or it 
would not sail very smoothly. This head man is 
called the President of the United States, and in him 
is vested the executive branch of the Government. 
Captains usually have lieutenants ; and the President's 
lieutenant is the Vice-President, who stands ready to 
take the President's place in case he is unable to 
attend to his duties himself. 

The Constitution directs that the President and 
the Vice-President be chosen in the following manner. 
Once in every four years the people in each State 
choose as many men as they have Senators and Rep- 
resentatives counted together. These men are called 



Presidential Electors. 6 1 

Presidential Electors, because they elect or choose 
the President. 

These Electors meet at a certain time in their re- 
spective States, and vote for the President and the 
Vice-President. The name of the man they vote for 
is written down on a piece of paper, put into an 
envelope, sealed up, and sent to Congress. These 
envelopes are opened and the votes counted in the 
presence of the Senate and the House of Representa- 
tives. The man who has received a majority of the 
electoral votes becomes the President. The Vice- 
President is chosen in the same manner. 

Thus you see that every man in the United States 
who is capable of voting has something to do and to 
say about who shall govern him. 

But you may think that the people do not really 
choose the President and the Vice-President, — that 
the Electors choose them. Now, although this is true 
in one sense, yet it is just as true that the people 
choose them. You must remember that the people 
choose the Electors, and the Electors know whom 
the people that have chosen them wish and expect 
them to vote for ; so they vote as the people wish. 

The nation is usually divided into two great politi- 
cal parties, though sometimes there have been more 
than two. Both parties desire the good of the peo- 
ple, and wish to choose those men for rulers who 



62 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

will, they think, do the nation the most good. But 
these two parties do not think exactly alike as to 
what will be for the good of the nation. Sometimes 
their views are very different indeed ; but each party 
tells what it does think, so that every man can judge 
for himself, and join whichever party he prefers. 

Now, each of these political parties agrees upon 
some particular man as its candidate for President, 
and then each party chooses its own Electors, so that 
the people know definitely for whom the Electors 
will vote. 

We left Mr. Lincoln as Whig candidate for Presi- 
dential Elector. At that time the two great political 
parties were called Whigs and Democrats. 

In the year 1844 the Whig party desired to have 
Henry Clay for President. Mr. Lincoln was a great 
admirer of Mr. Clay. You will recollect that one of 
the favorite books of his boyhood was the life of that 
great statesman. After Mr. Lincoln became a man, 
he continued to like Mr. Clay just as much as before, 
and thought nobody in the United States would 
make so good a President as Mr. Clay. 

Some months before a President is to be chosen 
the whole country is in a state of great excitement. 
Each political party holds a national convention, and 
nominates its candidate for the Presidency. Poli- 
ticians go about in the different States, making 



Mr. Lin cob I goes to Cojigress. 63 

speeches in praise of their favorite candidates, and 
there are torchlight processions and bands of music, 
and all sorts of things are done to arouse the people. 
This is called the Presidential campaign. So in the 
Presidential campaign of 1844 M^r. Lincoln went all 
over the State of Illinois, making speeches in praise 
of Henry Clay. 

In the same year the Democrats nominated James 
K. Polk as their candidate for the Presidency. Mr. 
Polk was elected instead of Mr. Clay because he 
received the greatest number of electoral votes ; and 
on the 4th of March, 1845, 1^<-' ^^as inaugurated Presi- 
dent of these United States. 

The next year after this the Whig party of Illinois 
chose Mr. Lincoln as their Representative to Con- 
gress. Illinois sent seven Representatives that year ; 
but Mr. Lincoln was the only Whig among them, the 
rest being Democrats. 

Mr. Lincoln took his seat in Congress on the first 
Monday in December, 1847. ^t this period some 
questions of great importance were before the Gov- 
ernment, and some of them seemed very difficult 
indeed to settle. The Senators and Representatives 
in their respective houses had some most exciting 
and stormy discussions. Mr. Lincoln's voice was 
frequently heard, and he always voted for or against 
every measure that was under consideration. 



64 TJu C J lild veil's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

From time to time since the United States first 
became a nation new States have been admitted into 
the Union. Just before Mr. Polk was inaugurated 
Congress had decided to admit Texas, which before 
this had been an independent repubhc. The Texans 
were for the most part very glad of this, for they 
were so poor they could not pay their debts ; and 
besides, Mexico was always quarrelling with them, 
and they had found it difificult to sustain an indepen- 
dent government. They were only too glad, there- 
fore, to be under the protection and make a part of 
so powerful a nation as the United States. 

On the other hand, a great many persons in the 
United States did not approve of this measure. They 
thought we already had territory enough without 
adding any more. Besides, they knew that if Texas 
were admitted, she would come into the Union as a 
slave State; and they thought it would be a great 
misfortune to have such an accession to the slave- 
power. These persons considered slavery a great 
evil, and thought it would be much better if there 
were not a single slave in the United States. 

But there were others who thought slavery right; 
and again, there were others who, if they did not 
think it exactly right, argued that it would be best 
for the country not to have any noise or excitement 
about the matter, and if another slave State desired 



TJie Mexican War. 65 

to enter the Union, why, let her come. So there 
was a great difference of opinion, and the annexation 
of Texas was talked about a great while before it was 
finally decided upon. 

Air. Lincoln was, from the first, very much opposed 
to it and voted against it. He always thought slav- 
ery was wrong, and did not want to have its power 
increased. 

Pretty soon after Texas was admitted into the 
Union, a war broke out with Mexico. It was called 
the Mexican War. As I have already told you, the 
Mexicans and Texans were always quarrelling. One 
of the things they disputed about was this : The 
Texans contended that their territory extended as far 
as the Rio Grande River, while the Mexicans said 
that the Rio Grande belonged to them, and the 
Texans had no right to any country beyond the 
river Nueces. 

By looking on the map of North America, children, 
you will see that Mexico and Texas join each other ; 
you will see, too, that quite a space of country lies 
between the rivers Rio Grande and Nueces. Of 
course, some boundary-line must be decided upon as 
separating the two countries; the Mexicans said, " It 
must be the Nueces : " and the Texans said, " No, it 
must be the Rio Grande." President Polk thought 
the Rio Grande was the proper dividing-line, and 

5 



66 TJie CJiildrens Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

accordingly sent a body of United States troops, 
under the command of Gen. Zachary Taylor, to a 
town near the mouth of the Nueces, called Corpus 
Christi, to repel the Mexicans, in case they invaded 
our own soil, as he called it, — that is, the disputed 
country between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. 

General Taylor remained at his post several months, 
and then received orders to advance with his army 
toward the Rio Grande. On the 8th of March, 1846, 
he began to move, and on the 28th of the same month 
arrived at the banks of the river, opposite the town of 
Matamoras, and began to build a fort which he called 
Fort Brown. Upon this the Mexicans began to throw 
up batteries and redoubts. Some time in April a 
slight collision occurred between the army of General 
Taylor and that of the Mexicans, under General 
Arista. 

When this news reached Washington, President Polk 
issued a special message to Congress, declaring that 
war existed by the act of Mexico, — that the Mexican 
Government had at last invaded our territory, and 
shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil, — and 
asked for men and money to prosecute the war. His 
request was granted. But although Congress ap- 
proved of what President Polk had done, a great 
many persons in the United States did not approve 
of it. They thought the question of the disputed 



TJlc Treaty of Peace with Mexico. 6/ 

territory might have been settled in some other 
way, and some of them did not think this disputed 
ground ever belonged to Texas; they did not con- 
sider that the Mexicans had shed the blood of our 
citizens on our own soil, but that the soil in ques- 
tion belonged to Mexico, and that we were the 
invaders. 

Mr. Lincoln was one of those who held this opin- 
ion. But although he voted against the war, and said 
he did not think it was righteously begun by the 
President, still he always voted for any appropriation 
which Congress desired to make to pay the soldiers 
who went to the war. 

The United States troops fought the Mexicans with 
great vigor until, after a series of battles, our forces 
entered the City of Mexico, and planted the American 
flag on the top of the national palace. The Mexicans 
were now obliged to admit that we had beaten them, 
and said they were willing to come to terms with the 
United States. Accordingly, a treaty was made, and 
on the 4th of July, 1848, peace was proclaimed by 
President Polk. 

By the terms of this treaty, Mexico gave up all 
claim to the disputed territory between the Nueces 
and the Rio Grande, and also ceded to the United 
States the whole of New Mexico and California. In 
return for this territory, the United States gave to 



6S TJie CJiildreii s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Mexico fifteen millions of dollars, and paid some of 
her debts ; this amounted to about three and a half 
millions more. 

And now there was a great contention in Congress 
as to whether slavery should be allowed to exist in 
this new territory acquired from Mexico. In the 
session of Congress immediately preceding the one 
of which Mr. Lincoln was a member, a certain Mr. 
Wilmot, a Representative from Pennsylvania, offered 
an amendment to a bill which was under considera- 
tion to enable President Polk to negotiate a peace 
with Mexico. 

The substance of the amendment was this : that 
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever 
exist in any of the Territories acquired by or annexed 
to the United States, by virtue of the appropriations 
of this bill, except for crime, whereof the party shall 
first be duly convicted. 

This was the famous Wilmot Proviso ; and although 
it may not seem very interesting to you, my children, 
I hope you will try to understand it, because it created 
a great excitement all over the country. When Mr. 
Lincoln entered Congress, the subject was still under 
discussion, and he was so much in favor of its adop- 
tion that he voted for it forty-two times. The meas- 
ure never became a law, because both Houses of 
Congress could not agree ; but it roused all over the 



Mr, Liiicobis Views. 69 

United States a feeling which had never existed 
before. 

Previous to this many persons who were opposed 
to slavery had feared the slaveholding States would 
become more powerful than the free States, and 
that slavery would yet spread all over the Union. 
These persons were much disappointed with the result 
of the Wilmot Proviso, and some of them began to 
be alarmed at the prospect of having slavery intro- 
duced into the Territories. Mr. Lincoln was one of 
these persons ; and this was why he voted so many 
times in favor of the Wilmot amendment. 

Another question before Congress at this time was 
whether slavery should be abolished in the District 
of Columbia. Mr. Lincoln believed that Congress 
possessed the power to do this, and he voted in favor 
of it ; but he desired that masters should be paid for 
their slaves out of the United States Treasury. But 
the majority of Congressmen at that time were very 
much opposed to holding any discussion on the 
subject of slavery, and so nothing was accomplished 
in regard to freeing any of the slaves. 

Mr. Lincoln also voted to appropriate money for 
the improvement of rivers and harbors, and to sell 
the public lands at a very low rate to the people who 
occupied and cultivated them. He was also in favor 
of a protective tariff. 



70 The CJiildi'en' s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Now, children, I suppose I must tell you what a 
tariff is, or you will not know what Mr. Lincoln voted 
for. 

From time to time the Government has passed 
laws that certain sums of money shall be paid on 
certain kinds of goods brought into the United 
States. These sums of money are called duties, and 
are paid into the Treasury of the United States for 
the support of the Government. The tariff is a list 
of the goods on which the duties are to be paid, and 
also of the duties themselves. Mr. Lincoln thought 
these duties should be so regulated that an article 
made in a foreign country could not be brought to 
this country and sold at a lower price than the same 
article could be sold at if made here. He believed 
that unless this were done our own manufacturers 
would be injured, because everybody would buy for- 
eign articles instead of our own. 

This is called the protective tariff, because it pro- 
tects our own manufacture, and Mr. Lincoln voted 
for it to encourage industry and promote the well- 
being of our own country. 



CHAPTER VII. 

General Taylor elected President. — Lincoln practises his 
Profession. — Takes the Political Field in 1854.— Repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise. — Judge Trumbull elected 
Senator. 

N the first day of June, 
1848, the Whig party held 
a national convention at 
Philadelphia to nominate 
their candidate for the 
next Presidency, for the 
time had come for a new 
Presidential campaign. 
The Whigs of Illinois sent 
Mr. Lincoln as a delegate 
to this Convention. After much discussion the Con- 
vention nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor; and Mr. 
Lincoln, upon his return home, made many speeches 
in praise of General Taylor, who, you will remem- 
ber, was in the Mexican War. General Taylor was 
elected President, and was inaugurated on Monday, 
March 5 (the 4th coming on Sunday), 1849. 




72 The CJiildreii's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

The same year the Whig portion of the Legislature 
of IlHnois desired to send Mr. Lincoln as their Sena- 
tor to Washington ; but as there were more Demo- 
crats than Whigs in the Legislature, he was not chosen. 
General Shields, the Democratic candidate, was sent 
instead. During the next five years, which was a 
period of great excitement, Mr. Lincoln did not take 
an active part in the affairs of the nation ; but you 
may be sure he was none the less interested, and 
knew all about the doings of Congress as much as if 
he were there. He practised his profession of law 
quietly at his home in .Springfield, Illinois, until the 
year 1854. 

Franklin Pierce was now President, having been 
inaugurated March 4, 1853. 

Some time during the following January Stephen 
A. Douelas, who was chairman of the Senate Com- 
mittee on Territories, introduced a very extraordinary 
bill in Congress, which set the country half crazy 
with excitement. This bill proposed that two Terri- 
tories, to be called Kansas and Nebraska, should be 
organized west of the State of Missouri and north of 
the parallel of 36° 30' north latitude, and that slavery 
should be admitted into these Territories. Now the 
cause of the excitement was this : — 

As long ago as when Mr. Monroe was President, 
slavery was the cause of a great deal of contention 







LINCOLN'S FIRST LESSON IN LAW. (See page 54.) 



Repeal of the Missow'i Compromise. 75 



and dispute. At that time Missouri wanted to enter 
the Union as a slave State. The Senate said yes, 
but the House of Representatives would not con- 
sent unless she prohibited slavery. Speeches upon 
speeches were made, and vote after vote was taken in 
both houses, but it was a long time before they could 
come to any agreement. At length it was decided 
to admit Missouri as a slave State, with the provision 
that in all the remaining Territories of the United 
States north of latitude 36° 30' slavery should be for- 
ever prohibited. This was called the Missouri Com- 
promise, and it came to be regarded as sacred as the 
Constitution itself 

So, when Mr. Douglas proposed to repeal and set 
aside what nobody before had ever thought of med- 
dling with, it was looked upon as a most astonishing 
and daring measure. There was a tremendous debate 
in Congress over this bill. But Mr. Douglas worked 
away, until at last he carried his point, and the bill 
became a law. 

Thus the famous Missouri Compromise was re- 
pealed. Almost all the Northern people now began 
to feel as if matters were coming to a serious crisis, 
and that some determined movement must be made 
to check the extension of slavery. 

Mr. Lincoln was very indignant at the passage of 
this bill, and thought it was time to give his attention 



76 The CJiildreji s Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

again to political matters. Illinois was to send a new 
Senator to Congress in place of General Shields, 
whose six years were up. You will recall, chil- 
dren, that the Legislature of each State chooses the 
United States Senators. 

Now, the Legislature which was to choose the new 
Senator from Illinois had not yet been elected. So 
Mr. Lincoln begged the people of his State to choose 
such a Legislature as would send a Senator to Con- 
gress who would frown upon Mr. Douglas's meas- 
ures. Mr. Douglas, on the other hand, told the 
people that his measures were all right, and that 
Congress had no power to make a law that slavery 
should not exist in a certain portion of the United 
States. Thus the people listened to Mn Lincoln one 
day, and to Mr. Douglas another day. 

The outcome was the election of Judge Trumbull 
for Senator, a man much opposed to Mr. Douglas's 
bill. A great part of the Legislature would have 
preferred Mr. Lincoln to anybody else ; but Mr. Lin- 
coln himself thought it would be better to send Judge 
Trumbull, and it was through his influence that the 
Judge was nominated. After this, the people of 
Illinois wanted to choose Mr. Lincoln as Governor of 
the State ; but he did not wish to be nominated. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



The Republican Party. — The Presidential Campaign of 1856. 
— Buchanan's Election. — Kansas. — The Dred Scott 



OU will recollect, children, 
how I told you a little while 
ago that the great political 
parties of the United States 
have at different times been 
called by different names. 
When Mr. Lincoln entered 
public life, they were known 
as Whigs and Democrats. 
They had borne these names 
many years. 
But as the portion of the people who were in favor 
of slavery grew bolder and bolder in their efforts to 
extend it, nearly all the Whig party and some of the 
Democrats thought they would unite and form them- 
selves into a new party, and come out openly and say 
that they would not vote for any measures which 
would help to extend slavery. They did not wish to 




78 The CJiildreiis Life of Abraham Li^icoln-^ 

meddle with any of the States which were already 
slave States, but determined to do all they could to 
prevent any more slave States from being formed. 
This new party styled itself the Republican party, 
and has been called by that name ever since. Mr. 
Lincoln joined the Republicans. 

In the Presidential campaign of 1856 the Republi- 
cans held their national convention at Philadelphia, 
and on the 17th of June nominated as their candidate 
for President, John C. Fremont, and for Vice-Presi- 
dent, William L. Dayton. Mr. Lincoln also received 
a good many votes for Vice-President, but not so 
many as Mr. Dayton. But the Republicans of Illinois 
chose Mr. Lincoln for Presidential Elector, and he 
tried very hard to secure Mr. Fremont's election. 

The Democrats also held their convention in June, 
in the city of Cincinnati, and nominated James Bu- 
chanan for President, and John C. Breckinridge for 
Vice-President. The political- contest this year was 
most exciting. The Republicans struggled very hard 
to elect their candidate ; but their party was new, and 
had not yet become so strong as the Democratic 
party. So the Democrats prevailed ; and James 
Buchanan was chosen President, and was inaugurated 
on the 4th of March, 1857. At this time there was 
great excitement all over the Union about the 
Territory of Kansas. 



TJic Settlement of Kansas. 79 

You will remember that Mr. Douglas introduced 
his bill for the admission of slavery into this Terri- 
tory in the month of January, 1854; but it did not 
become a law until the following May. About a 
month before the passage by Congress of this extra- 
ordinary measure, the Legislature of Massachusetts 
had formed a society called the Emigrants' Aid 
Company, for the purpose of assisting poor persons 
who desired to remove to Kansas. Soon after, the 
Legislature of Connecticut organized a similar com- 
pany, and quite an excitement was kindled in the 
Northern States about going to Kansas. Many peo- 
ple went because they could go at so cheap a rate. 

Previous to this, some people had gone there from 
the Western States, and a few from the slave States. 
A party of thirty men founded the town of Law- 
rence. About this time settlers from Missouri began 
to come in, bringing their slaves with them. This 
they had a right to do by the new law which had 
just been passed; but the settlers from the free 
States did not like it at all, and notwithstanding 
the law, determined to exclude slavery from Kansas. 
They could not do this while Kansas remained a 
Territory, but they resolved that whenever it became 
a State it should be a free State. 

On the other hand the Missouri settlers meant to 
make it a slave State. In the month of July, in this 



8o TJlc Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

same year, a body of public men in Missouri had 
openly declared that in order to do this they were 
ready to help remove all citizens from Kansas who 
went there under the auspices of Northern Emigrant 
Aid Societies. About this time President Pierce ap- 
pointed Andrew H." Reeder of Pennsylvania Governor 
of Kansas. Mr. Reeder arrived in Kansas on the 6th 
of October. 

The President appoints the Governors of the Terri- 
tories, but the people have a right to form a Terri- 
torial Legislature and send one man to Congress, 
though he is neither a Senator nor a Representative. 
He is called a Delegate, and can go and talk about 
his Territory as much as he pleases, but is not allowed 
to vote. 

The next month after the arrival of Governor 
Reeder, while the people of Kansas were assembled 
to elect a Territorial Delegate to Congress, a body of 
ruffians from Missouri marched in and took posses- 
sion of all tlie votes. A few months after this the 
people attempted to elect a Territorial Legislature, 
but were treated in the same manner as before. 
Governor Reeder tried to put a stop to such dis- 
graceful proceedings, and he went to Washington 
and told the President about it ; but all he got for his 
trouble was his removal from office. 

As soon as Governor Reeder was removed the 



TJie Struggle in Kansas. 8 1 



people in Kansas who were in favor of slavery be- 
haved worse than ever. They took their seats in the 
Legislature, and passed laws to imprison everybody 
who should help a slave to escape, or should say that 
it was wrong to hold slaves. Worse laws even than 
these were passed. Mr. Shannon of Ohio was the 
next Governor. Soon after his appointment the 
free-State men made another effort to secure their 
rights. They held a convention and said they would 
not obey such laws as the slavery Legislature had 
made, and they chose ex-Governor Reeder as their 
Delegate to Congress. They also decided to form 
a State Constitution and prohibit slavery. 

A convention met for this purpose at a town called 
Topeka. By this time the slavery party was very 
much enraged, and the people began to fight. Sev- 
eral persons were killed on both sides. The inhab- 
itants of Lawrence began to arm themselves in 
self-defence, and the Governor called out the militia. 

Upon this the Missourian ruffians said they were 
the Kansas militia, and for several days Lawrence 
was besieged ; but finally matters were quieted for 
a little while, and the Missourians went home. Soon, 
however, Lawrence was again threatened, and made 
resistance, but as the sheriff promised safety and 
protection to the citizens, they delivered up their 
arms. They had no sooner done this, however, than 

6 



82 



The CJiildreji's Life of Abraham Lnicohi. 



the besiegers entered the town, burned the house of 
Mr. Robinson, — one of the founders of Lawrence, 
— blew up the hotel, destroyed the printing-presses, 
and went about making general havoc. The free- 
State party now declared war against the slavery 
faction. There were several fights, and many per- 
sons were killed. 

Matters continued pretty much in this condition 
until Jan. 6, 1857; but Governor Shannon had been 
removed for favoring the free-State men, and ]\Ir. 
Geary of Pennsylvania now held the office. At this 
time the free-State Legislature, elected under the 
Topeka Constitution, met at that place ; but the lead- 
ing members were immediately arrested by the L'nited 
States marshals. Directly after this the slavery party 
met at Lecompton, and passed an act to have a con- 
vention called which should form a constitution for 
the State of Kansas. This slavery party styled itself 
the Territorial Legislature. In this act the members 
were encouraged by President Pierce, who said that 
the formation of the free- State Government was an 
act of rebellion. Governor Geary now became so 
disgusted with the situation that he resigned ; and 
Mr. Walker of Mississippi succeeded him. It was 
about this time that 'Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated 
President. 

When Governor Walker had been in office some 



TJie Supreme Court and Slavery. 83 

months, the convention met at Lecompton and formed 
their famous Constitution, four sections of which re- 
lated to slavery. The people were informed that they 
could vote for the Constitution with slavery, or for 
the Constitution without slavery, but in any case they 
must vote for the Constitution. 

These proceedings created a tremendous excite- 
ment in Kansas, and the free-State party declared 
they would have nothing to do with the Constitution. 
Governor Walker was as much displeased with it as 
the people were, and went to Washington to beg Con- 
gress not to adopt it ; but before he arrived President 
Buchanan had sanctioned it, and so Governor Walker 
resigned. The struggle between the free-State men 
and the slavery party was now at its height in Kansas. 

We must now turn aside a little from our present 
subject, in order that you may understand something 
which I am about to relate. You will remember that 
I told you the government consists of three branches. 
You already understand about two of them, the legis- 
lative and the executive ; and now the time has come 
when we must speak of the third branch, — the 
judicial department of government. 

This branch comprises, besides inferior courts, a 
Supreme Court with one chief-justice and eight asso- 
ciate justices, who are appointed by the President 



84 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

for life. Roger Biooke Taney was Chief-Justice at 
this time ; and a decision of his in the Supreme Court 
shook the country to its very centre. It was called 
the Dred Scott Decision. 

This Dred Scott was a negro slave owned by a man 
in Missouri. The master removed him to Illinois, a 
free State ; and therefore the slave thought that this 
made him. free. But the Chief-Justice decided that 
he had lost whatever claim to freedom he had gained 
by living in Illinois, because after having removed to 
Wisconsin, he finally returned to Missouri. One of 
the reasons he gave for this decision was that the 
negro had no rights which the white man was bound 
to respect, and another was that the Missouri Com- 
promise, which prohibited slavery in the Territories 
north of 36° 30', was unconstitutional. 

When this decision was announced, the slavery 
party in Kansas thought their victory was certain; 
but the free-State men, in spite of the decision, 
determined not to yield. 

Mr. Lincoln's soul was on fire for freedom ; he was 
shocked at the Dred Scott Decision, and the oppres- 
sion of the people in Kansas. He expected the next 
decision of the Supreme Court would be that the 
Constitution permitted slavery in all the States, as well 
as in the Territories ; then there would be no freedom 
anywhere for the slave. Therefore he thought all 



A Short- Sighted President. 85 

lovers of freedom ought to express the most intense 
disapprobation of the Dred Scott Decision. It was 
in the November following this decision that the sla- 
very party in Kansas had adopted the infamous Le- 
compton Constitution. 

Congress assembled soon after, when President 
Buchanan stated his opinion on the subject. He said 
everybody must see that in the end Kansas would be 
free, and he thought the best way to settle the dispute 
would be to admit her with the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion ; then the South would have no reason to com- 
plain, and if the State were free, the North ought not 
to grumble about the Constitution. 

But the free-State people in Kansas thought that 
this was only an ingenious dodge to fasten slavery 
upon them, and that if they adopted the Lecompton 
Constitution the game would be up, and there would 
be no more freedom for them. 

The worst part of the matter was that the people 
were not allowed to read the Constitution, and so did 
not know what they were required to vote for. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Speeches of Lincoln and Douglas. — Lincoln visits Kansas, 
Ohio, and New York. — Speech at Cooper Institute. — At 
Five Points. 



HE time had now ar- 
rived for the Legis- 
lature of Illinois to 
choose a new Senator. 
Mr. Douglas's term had 
nearly expired. Mr. 
Lincoln and Mr. Doug- 
las were the leading 
men of their respective 
parties in Illinois, and 
it was probable that one of them would be chosen. 

Their views were as opposite as light and darkness. 
Mr. Lincoln opposed the extension of slavery. He 
was shocked at the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise and the consequent oppression of the people in 
Kansas, and was indignant at the Dred Scott De- 
cision. Mr. Douglas, on the other hand, was the 




The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. 87 



author of the bill repealing the Missouri Compro- 
mise, and approved of the Dred Scott Decision; 
but he did not think it was right that the Lecompton 
Constitution should be forced upon the citizens of 
Kansas. He said he did not care whether slavery 
was voted down or up, but he thought the people 
had a right to vote against the Constitution if they 
chose. In this expression of his opinion he offended 
President Buchanan and others favoring slavery. 

Mr. Douglas went home to lUinois before the time 
came to elect the new Senator; and he and Mr. Lin- 
coln went all over the State, making speeches m sup- 
port of their favorite views. Mr. Douglas would 
make a speech, and then Mr. Lincoln would answer 
him. They each made a great many speeches, but 
there were seven that were called joint debates. 
These were held at seven different towns in seven 
different parts of the State, from the extreme north to 
the extreme south. These debates created the great- 
est enthusiasm. Each party turned out to do honor 
to its own man. There were gay cavalcades, rmgmg 
of bells, firing of guns, bands of music, big proces- 
sions, and a great time generally. 

In so small a book as this it is impossible to say 
much about the speeches; but we will quote a few 
short extracts from some of Mr. Lincoln's, because 
they let us into his principles and character, and 



88 The Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

show us that his convictions were substantially the 
same throughout his pubhc life. Some persons have 
accused him of being vacillating and weak, but we 
think it would be difficult to find an historical per- 
sonage less changeable than he. In the beginning of 
one of his speeches are these remarkable words : — 

" '■ A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe 
this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and 
half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do 
not expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will cease 
to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the 
other." 

You will observe, children, how far-seeing and 
sagacious he was. These words sound like those of 
a prophet, for in less than seven years from the time 
they were uttered, this country had become all one 
thing, — all free, — and owing in a very great degree, 
too, to the skilful administration of this very man. 

Mr. Lincoln thought the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise, which admitted slavery Into all the Ter- 
ritories, and the Dred Scott Decision, and the forc- 
ing of the Lecompton Constitution upon the people 
of Kansas, were all parts of one great political ma- 
chine, or mill, as he calls it, and that all the different 
framers of these measures understood one another very 
well, and had one common end in view. So in the 



Afr. Lincoln's J Vise JVords. 89 

speech from which we have just quoted, he goes on 
to say : — 

" We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adapta- 
tions are the result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of 
framed timbers, different portions of which we know have 
been gotten out at different times and places and by different 
workmen (Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, for in- 
stance), and when we see these timbers joined together, and 
see they exacdy make the frame of a house or a mill, — all 
the tenons and mortises exactly fitting, and all the lengths 
and proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to 
their respective places, and not a piece too many or too few 
(not omitting even scaffolding), or if a single piece be lacking, 
we see the place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared yet 
to bring such piece in, — in such a case we find it impossi- 
ble not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger 
and James, all understood one another from the beginning, 
and all worked upon a common plan, or draft, drawn up 
before the first blow was struck." 

Mr. Lincoln thought that this political mill had 
been most skilfully built, and that if it were not 
torn down, it would grind not only the negro, but 
the whole nation, to powder. 

In another speech, referring to the thirteen original 
colonies, he said : — 

" These communities, by their representatives in old Inde- 
pendence Hall, said to the world of men : ' We hold these 



go The Childrcii s Life of AbraJiain Lincoln. 

truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness.' This was their lofty and wise and noble under- 
standing of the justice of the Creator to his creatures : yes, 
gentlemen, to all his creatures, — to the whole great family 
of man. In their enlightened behef, nothing stamped with 
the Divme image and likeness was sent into the world to be 
trodden on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. They 
grasped not only the race of men then living, but they reached 
forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They created 
a beacon to guide their children and their children's children, 
and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in 
other ages. 

•' Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of 
prosperity to breed tyrants ; and so they established these 
great self-evident truths, that when, in the distant future, 
some man, some faction, some interest should set up the 
doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, or 
none but Anglo-Saxon white men, were entitled to life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up 
again to the Declaration of Independence, and take courage 
to renew the battle which their fathers began, so that truth 
and justice and mercy, and all the humane and Christian vir- 
tues, might not be extinguished from the land ; so that no 
man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great 
principles on which the temple of Liberty was being built. 

'' Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines 
conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of 



The Martyr Spirit. 9^ 



Independence ; it you have listened to suggestions which 
would take away from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair 
symmetry of its proportions ; if you have been inclined to 
believe that all men are not created equal, in those inalien- 
able rights enumerated by our chart of liberty, —let me en- 
treat vou to come back. Return to the fountain whose 
waters spring close by the blood of the Revolution. 

•• Think nothing of me ; take no thought for the political 
fate of any man whomsoever ; but come back to the truths 
that are in the Declaration of Independence. Vou may do 
anvthing with me vou choose, if you will but heed these sacred 
principles. Vou mav not only defeat me for the Senate, but 
you may take me and put me death. While pretending no 
indifference to earthlv honors, I do claim to be actuated in 
this contest bv something higher than an anxiety for ottice. 
I char^^e vou to drop ever^- paltry and insignificant thought 
for anv man's success. It is nothing; I am nothing; 
Tudc^e Doudas is nothing. But do not destroy that im- 
mortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of American 
Independence."' 

These are Mr. Lincoln's own words. How nobly 
he speaks ! Even then he had the spirit of a martyr. 
He was willing to be put to death, if onl>- the cause 
of liberty might prevail. And >-ou know that at last 
he did suffer death for maintaining at every cost these 
verv principles which he here so nobh- advocates 
Glorious martyr ! Let us try to imitate his noble and 
unselfish spirit. 



92 TJlc CJiildrrjis Life of AbraJiaui Liucohi. 

The excitement during all this political contest was 
tremendous, not only in Illinois, but all over the 
country. All lov^ers of freedom ardently wished that 
]\Ir. Lincoln might be chosen Senator, for they 
thought the nation was in great peril and needed 
such men in Congress. The opposite party proved 
the stronger, however, and Mr. Douglas was once 
more elected to the Senate. 

Between the close of this senatorial contest and the 
Presidential campaign of i860, ]\Ir. Lincoln made 
several visits to other States. He went to Kansas, 
whose people received him with the greatest enthu- 
siasm. They hardly knew how to express their joy 
at seeing the man who had labored so hard to defend 
their rights. ]\Ir. Lincoln also addressed the people 
of Ohio, and in the month of February he visited New 
York, and made a speech to the young men at Cooper 
Institute. 

As this speech is one of the most celebrated pro- 
ductions of the great man, you shall have a few of 
its sentences : — 

'* Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it 
alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity 
arising from its actual presence in the nation ; but can we, 
while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the 
national Territories, and to overrun us here in these free 
States? If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand 



Mr. Lincoln at Five Points Mission. 95 

by our duty fearlessly and effectively. Neither let us be 
slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor 
frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the govern- 
ment nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that 
right makes might ; and in that faith let us, to the e?id, dare 
to do our duty as we understa?id it.'^ 

Yes, he did dare to do his duty faithfully and 
fearlessly to the end. He was never frightened by 
threats; neither was he dismayed nor disheartened, 
even when he was most thickly beset with dangers. 
He calmly waited, and trusted in the darkest hours, 
with that sublime faith which he here proclaims, that 
right makes might ; and when the nation's future was 
almost hopeless, he said, — 

*' I still hope that in some way, which man cannot 
see, all will be well in the end, because our cause is 
just, and God is on our side." 

In this beautiful and simple trust he clung to God 
and to his promises, in the same way that you, chil- 
dren, confide in your parents; and God did not dis- 
appoint him, any more than your parents disappoint 
you when they have made you a promise. 

Mr. Lincoln loved children, and when he was in 
New York he did not forget them. One Sunday he 
visited the school at the Five Points. This school is 
composed of the most miserable and wretched chil- 
dren of New York City, who are here taught how to 



g6 TJic CJiildrcn's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

become good and respectable. Mr. Lincoln said 
kind words to them; and the children were so much 
interested that whenever he attempted to stop they 
would all shout out, '' Oh, go on ! do go on ! " No- 
body in the school knew who he was; but just as he 
was leaving, one of the teachers stepped up to him 
and begged to know his name. He simply said : '' It 
is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois." 

How every one of those children will treasure up 
what he said to them on that day, and when they 
grow up will tell their children that on a certain day 
the great Abraham Lincoln spoke to them ! Nobody 
knew then how great he was to become. 




CHAPTER X. 

The Presidential Campaign of i860. — The RepubHcan Con- 
vention at Chicago. — Lincohi elected President. 

NEW presidential campaign was approach- 
ing, and people began to talk of choosing 
Mr. Lincoln for President. The Repub- 
licans of Illinois held a convention at 
Decatur; and all at once, right in the midst of the 
meeting, a gentleman, who had been a Democrat a 
great many years, came marching in with two old 
weather-stained fence-rails, all trimmed up with rib- 
bons and flags, and with a banner bearing this 
inscription : — 

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

The Rail Candidate for President in i860. 

Two rails, from a lot of 3000, made in 1S30, by 

John Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose 

father was the first pioneer 

of Macon County." 

Upon this the meeting raised a tremendous shout, 
and began cheering for " Lincoln," " Abe Lincoln, 

7 



98 TJie CJiildrens Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

the rail-splitter," '* Honest Old Abe," and called upon 
him to make his appearance. Mr. Lincoln arose, 
and with great modesty stated that he had helped to 
split some rails about thirty years before, when some- 
body shouted out, '* These are some of the rails." 
After this the rails were in such demand that one 
would suppose the poor old fence must have been 
all carried away, for they were borne in processions 
all over the Union. 

This meeting was only a State convention ; but the 
Republicans held their national convention, to nom- 
inate their candidate for the next Presidency, at 
Chicago, on the i6th of May, i860. 

The people of that city had erected an immense 
structure for the occasion, called "The Wigwam." 
Delegates from all the States assembled here, to the 
number of four hundred and sixty-five. Mr. Lincoln 
and Mr. Seward were the two prominent candidates. 

On the first ballot — that is, the first time the con- 
vention voted — Mr. Seward had one hundred and 
seventy-three and a half votes, Mr. Lincoln one hun- 
dred and two, and the rest were scattering, — that is, 
divided among different persons. Nobody was nomi- 
nated on this vote, because nobody had a majority of 
all the votes ; so they voted again. 

On the second ballot, when Vermont's name was 
called, one of her delegates replied : " Vermont casts 



J/r. Lincoln is Xoniinatcd for President. 99 

her ten votes for the young giant of the West, Abra- 
ham Lincohi." Mr. Seward had on this ballot one 
hundred and eighty-four and a half, and Mr. Lincoln 
one hundred and eighty-one votes. But still no one 
had enough votes to be nominated ; so they voted 
again. 

On the third ballot Mr. Lincoln had two hundred 
and thirty-one and a half votes, — almost enough to 
nominate him. As soon as this was known, a delegate 
from Ohio said his State would make a change, and 
give four votes to Mr. Lincoln. This decided the 
contest, and Vix. Lincoln was chosen. 

The whole convention now fairly boiled over with 
the wildest excitement. Cheer after cheer was given, 
and returned by the crowd outside, until everybody 
was too hoarse to cheer any more. As soon as the 
meeting became calm enough for a speaker's voice 
to be heard, other States announced their wish to 
change their votes for Lincoln, until at length the 
whole convention voted for him. 

This all happened in the morning. In the after- 
noon the convention met again, and chose Hannibal 
Hamlin of Maine for Vice-President. Thus the Re- 
publican ticket was Lincoln and Hamlin. 

^Ir. Lincoln was not present at this convention, he 
was at his home in Springfield ; but the news went 
flashing over the wires. He was in a newspaper 



100 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

office, conversing with some friends, when a boy 
came running in with a note for Mr. Lincoln, which 
informed him that he was nominated on the third 
ballot. Mr. Lincoln took the news very quietly, and 
put the note in his pocket ; but his friends were all 
shouting in the most excited manner. Pretty soon 
Mr. Lincoln left them, saying, *' There 's a little 
woman down at our house would like to know this, 
and I '11 go down and tell her." This was his wife. 
When men are very glad or very sorry, they always 
want to go home and tell their families all about it. 

The Republicans all over the Union were very 
thankful that the convention had nominated Mr. Lin- 
coln ; for they knew he was a man of firm principles, 
with a most intense love for freedom. They knew, 
too, that he was entirely truthful and honest, and 
they were not afraid to trust the destiny of the na- 
tion in his hands. It was time that an honest cap- 
tain took command of the ship of State; for Mr. 
Buchanan had proved untrue to the high trusts 
reposed in him, and the poor old ship was toiling 
among breakers, and it looked very much as if she 
would be dashed against the rocks. Although Mr. 
Lincoln was elected on the 6th of November, you 
know that he would not become President until the 
following 4th of March. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Commencement of Secession Movement. — General Scott's 
Anxiety. — Defection of Buchanan and his Cabinet. — 
Anderson's Removal to Fort Sumter. — South Carolina 
secedes. — Secret Meeting of Jefferson Davis and other 
Traitors. — Other States secede. — Their Congressmen 
resign their Seats at Washington. — Convention of Seceded 
States at Montgomery. — Jefferson Davis is chosen Presi- 
dent, Alexander H. Stephens Vice-President. — The Con- 
federacy prepares for War. — Congress tries to conciliate. 

E must now learn when and how this dan- 
ger came, which threatened to engulf the 
ship of State, and also what Mr. Buchanan 
did during the remaining months of his 
term of office. 

The Southern people had for a long time been 
making all sorts of attempts to strengthen and extend 
slavery, and when they found that Mr. Lincoln had 
been elected President according to the laws of the 
land, they were very much provoked, and declared 
he should never be their President. All the Southern 
people did not feel in this way; but those who did 
resolved to make the rest think as they thought, or, at 
any rate, act with them. 




102 TJie CJiildreiis Life of Abraliam Lincoln. 

For this purpose a few wicked men tried to excite 
the Southern people, by telHng them that Mr. Lin- 
coln was a very bad man and a great tyrant, who 
would rob them of their slaves and all their lawful 
rights under the Constitution ; and urged them not to 
submit to his rule, but to come out and have a sepa- 
rate government of their own. 

Just before the election of Mr. Lincoln, in Novem- 
ber, General Scott, who had been watching public 
matters very carefully, wrote a letter to President 
Buchanan, and his Secretary of War, INIr. Flo3^d, say- 
ing he was fearful that preparations were going on 
at the South to seize the United States forts in the 
Southern harbors ; he therefore suggested that garri- 
sons of soldiers be placed in the forts to protect 
them. Mr. Buchanan did not pay any attention to 
the letter, and Mr. Floyd declared that, for his part, 
he should not permit anything of the kind to be done. 
This Mr. Floyd had a great deal of power in his 
hands, because he was one of the President's Cabinet. 

This Cabinet is composed of several gentlemen 
whom the President chooses for his particular ad- 
visers; and they are called the Secretaries of State, 
of the Treasury, of the Literior, of the Navy, of War, 
of Agriculture, the Attorney-General, and the Post- 
master-General. The President and his Cabinet are 
called the administration, because they administer or 



Tn 



'cason 



execute the laws. Congress makes the laws, and 
these gentlemen execute them. The President can 
choose those whom he wishes to form his Cabinet; 
but the Senate are at liberty to reject any one who 
has been chosen, and no one can become a member 
of the Cabinet until his appointment has been con- 
firmed by the Senate. 

Well, as we were saying, this Mr. Floyd, being Sec- 
retary of War in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, had a great 
deal of power in his hands, and used it all to favor 
the South. He foresaw that trouble was at hand, and 
meant to do his utmost to cripple the North and help 
the South. So he absolutely refused to allow any 
garrisons to be placed in the Southern forts. The 
national army was very small at this time, consisting 
of only about sixteen thousand men, and Mr. Floyd 
had scattered them to the most remote corners of the 
Union ; he had also shipped large quantities of arms 
and ammunition to the South. 

When our Congress met at Washington, on the 3d 
of Decemxber, the country was in a terrible condition. 
South Carolina was behaving very badly, and it was 
the prevailing opinion that she would soon attempt 
to secede from the Union. 

President Buchanan seems to have been entirely at 
a loss what to do. At all events, he did next to 
nothing. In his message to Congress he said he did 



I04 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

not think any State had any right to secede from the 
Union ; but if she chose to secede, he did not think 
Congress had any right to make war upon her to pre- 
vent her from seceding. He said the North had made 
such a noise about slavery that many of the slaves had 
become very discontented, and the South were afraid 
of insurrection among them, and that was why they 
were making preparations for war ; and he thought it 
proper that these preparations should be made. He 
wanted all the States to behave well, but said he had 
no right to coerce a State ; and he advised that the 
Constitution should be amended so as to say that the 
slaves were property, and that this property must be 
protected in all the Territories of the United States. 
He thought some such measures would restore peace 
and harmony. 

At this time Major Anderson, with a handful of 
men, commanded Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Har- 
bor. The loyal persons at Washington felt very 
uneasy about this fort, and thought it ought to be 
reinforced. Mr. Cass, Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of 
State, said the forts of Charleston Harbor must be 
reinforced, and Mr. Floyd said they must not. The 
President listened to his Secretary of War, instead of 
to his Secretary of State ; and so Mr. Cass would 
not stay in his Cabinet, but resigned on the 14th of 
December. 



Secession of South Carolina. 1 05 

On the 20th of December the State of South Caro- 
Hna passed an ordinance of secession, and declared 
that the union which had subsisted between herself 
and the other States, under the name of the United 
States of America, was dissolved ; four days later the 
Governor issued a proclamation declaring the State 
of South Carolina to be " a separate, sovereign, free, 
and independent State," — which meant that forever 
after she intended to do just as she pleased. Now, 
when children, or grown-up people, or even States, 
won't obey those who have the right to command, 
they never come out very well in the end. By and 
by we shall see how South Carolina came out. 

Major Anderson now began to think that his situa- 
tion at Fort Moultrie was very unsafe; and as he did 
not see any prospect of being aided by the Govern- 
ment, he decided, on his own responsibility, to re- 
move with his little garrison of about seventy soldiers 
and forty workmen to the stronger position of Fort 
Sumter, about two miles distant. His movement 
was planned with the greatest secrecy, and safely 
accomplished in the dead of the night on the 26th of 
December. 

The South Carolinians were greatly enraged, and 
accused President Buchanan of breaking his pledge 
to them. But the President assured them they were 
mistaken ; that Major Anderson went entirely of his 



io6 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

own accord ; and that when he had first heard of it, 
he had thought of ordering the Major back to Fort 
Moultrie; but as the South CaroHnians had already 
taken possession of that fort, it was impossible for 
him to send the Major there. But Mr. Floyd insisted 
that the President had broken his pledge that no 
change should be made in any of the forts ; and so 
Mr. Floyd said he should not stay in the Cabinet any 
longer, and three days after Anderson's removal to 
Fort Sumter he resigned. 

Directly after Mr. Floyd resigned, it was found that 
he was a great thief, and had helped himself to eight 
hundred and seventy thousand dollars of the public 
funds. About this time South Carolina sent three 
commissioners to President Buchanan, asking him to 
deliver up the forts and all other government property 
in Charleston to them. The President did not tell 
them that they might have the forts ; but he did noth- 
ing to prevent their helping themselves to whatever 
they wanted. 

On the evening of the 5th of January, a secret 
meeting was held at Washington, composed of Sen- 
ators from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
Texas, Mississippi, and Florida. They said that all 
the Southern States must follow the example of South 
Carolina and secede as soon as possible, and decided 
that a convention of all these States should meet. 



TJie Plot TJiickens. 107 

sometime in February, at Montgomery, Alabama. 
But they advised that all the members of Congress 
from the Southern States should keep their seats at 
Washington as long as they could, to see how matters 
went on there, and to upset any measures which might 
be proposed to their disadvantage. Jefferson Davis, 
Mr. Slidell, and Mr. Mallory were appointed a 
committee to see that these things were done. 

Four days after this meeting Mississippi seceded. 
Two days later Alabama followed her example. 
Florida took the same step on the loth, Georgia 
passed an ordinance of secession on the 19th, Lou- 
isiana took her departure on the 25th of the same 
month, and Texas on the 1st of February. 

Three days after the secret meeting at Washington, 
Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned ; 
and in two days more P. F. Thomas of Maryland, 
who was Secretary of the Treasury in place of 
Howell Cobb, took the same step. Cobb himself 
had resigned a month before. On the 21st of Janu- 
ary Messrs. Yulee and Mallory of Florida resigned 
their seats in the Senate, and just a week later Mr. 
Iverson of Georgia followed their example. Then 
Messrs. Clay and Fitzpatrick of Alabama said they 
would not stay any longer, and Jefferson Davis left 
at the same time. Messrs. Slidell and Benjamin of 
Louisiana took their leave on the 4th of February. 



loS TJic CJiildrciis Life of AbyaJiani Lincoln. 

The convention of the seceded States met on this 
day at Montgomery, Alabama, and adopted a pro- 
visional constitution, to remain in force for one year. 
Jefferson Davis was chosen President, and Alexander 
H. Stephens Vice-President, of this so-called confed- 
erac}'. Jefferson Davis declared that the South was 
determined to maintain her position, and all who 
opposed her should be made to smell Southern pow- 
der and feel Southern steel. He said he supposed 
the South would experience some inconveniences in 
the beginning, but he had no doubt of final success. 

These infamous proceedings were not by an}' means 
the acts of the whole Southern people, but only of ^ 
few base conspirato7's against the best government 
any nation ever lived under. /// no instance did the 
people have an opportunity to vote for or against the 
act of secession. 

The new confederacy now began to make all sorts 
of preparations for war, although they did not intend 
to do any fighting as long as Mr. Buchanan remained 
in the chair; for, as he had said that he did not 
think he had any right to coerce a State, they con- 
cluded that, no matter what they did, the President 
would not meddle with them. So they made con- 
tracts all over the South for the manufacture of pow- 
der, shot, shells, and cannon-balls. They also began 
to organize an army, and on the 6th of March their 



Attempts at Conciliation. 109 

so-called Congress passed an act to raise a force of a 
hundred thousand men. 

While these things were going on, our own Con 
gressmen were trying in every way to devise some 
measures to conciliate the Southern people. They 
spent the whole winter in offering various resolutions, 
which conceded all that the South could in justice 
demand. But the South had no idea of coming 
back, or, rather, the men at the head of the secession 
movement had no idea of allowing her to come 
back. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Lincoln leaves Springfield. — Farewell. — His Arrival at Tolono, 
Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Steubenville, Pitts- 
burg, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, 
Albany, Troy, Hudson, Poughkeepsie, Peekskill, New York, 
Trenton, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, — Plot to take his Life. 
— His Safe Arrival at Washington. — Lnicoln's Address. 




HE inauguration of Mr, Lincoln was at 
hand. You have now seen what a terri- 
ble condition the country was in, and 
what an appalling task he had before him. 
Mr. Lincoln left his home in Springfield on the 
nth of February. A large company of his friends 
and neighbors attended him to the station, and he 
bade them good-by in these words : — 

" My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the 
sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that 
I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century ; 
here my children were born, and here one of them hes 
buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A 
duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that 
which has devolved upon any other man since the days of 
Washington. He would never have succeeded except for the 



Lincoln's Farewell to Ids Neighbors. iii 



aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. 
I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid 
which sustained him, and on the same AhTiighty Being I 
place my reliance for support ; and I hope you, my friends, 
will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without 
which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. 
Agani I bid you all an affectionate farewell." 

Now, my children, I want you to read carefully this 
farewell of ]\Ir. Lincoln's, for it is a perfect gem. 
It is very simple, as is everything else the great man 
ever said. 

What a beautiful, tender, modest soul was his ! 
With what childlike faith in God he embarked on 
his tempestuous voyage ! Some men would have 
been lifted up with pride at being called to fill the 
highest position in the United States. Others would 
have trembled and shrunk from assuming that posi- 
tion amid so great perils. For, besides the terribly 
disturbed state of the country, about which I have 
already told you, a company of bad men had openly 
made their boast that they would never allow Mr. 
Lincoln to reach Washington alive. They meant to 
kill him somewhere on the route. 

Now, although Mr. Lincoln was fully alive to every 
particular connected with his position, he was neither 
puffed up with pride nor depressed with fear, but was 
calm and quiet ; perhaps he was the calmest man in 



112 TJie CJiildreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

the whole country. And the reason was this: he 
trusted in God and the people. Probably there 
never was a public man who had such confidence in 
the people as he had. He did not believe the people 
would ever allow this great and mighty nation to go 
to ruin, and he kept telling them so. But, more than 
all, he believed in God. He tells his friends, as he 
bids them good-by, that with God's assistance success 
is certain. He asked God to assist him, and he be- 
lieved God would do it; so he went forth on his 
mighty voyage as firm as a rock and as modest as a 
child. Abraham Lincoln never placed his head upon 
his pillow at night without saying his prayers ; and if 
you do as he did, you may expect God's blessing as 
much as he expected it. 

As the train which bore Mr. Lincoln went whirling 
and shrieking through the country, people every- 
where assembled at the railroad stations. The ladies 
and girls waved their handkerchiefs and threw bou- 
quets into the cars, and the men and boys shouted 
for ** Lincoln and the Constitution " at the top of 
their voices. Wherever the cars stopped long enough, 
Mr. Lincoln would make his appearance and say a 
few kind and pleasant words; and at places where 
he remained for several hours he sometimes made 
speeches of considerable length. At little villages, 
where the train only paused for a moment, he replied 



Mr. Lincoln starts for Washington. 113 

with bows and pleasant smiles to the greetings which 
everywhere met him. You shall hear a few of the 
things he said along the route. At Tolono, amid 
deafening applause, he said : — 

" I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, 
attended, as you are aware, with considerable difficulties. 
Let us believe, as some poet has expressed it, ' Behind the 
cloud, the sun is still shining.' I bid you an affectionate 
farewell." 

At Indianapolis Mr. Lincoln found tlie Governor 
of the State waiting for him in his carriage. The 
whole city had turned out to do Mr. Lincoln honor, 
and he was escorted to the Bates House in splendid 
style. In his address to the people from the balcony 
of the hotel, he said : — 

•' To the salvation of the Union there needs but one single 
thing, — the hearts of a people like yours. The people, 
when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the liber- 
ties of their country, — truly may it be said, ' The gates of 
hell cannot prevail against them.' " 

In the evening Mr. Lincoln spoke again to the 
members of the Legislature, and the next morning 
set off for Cincinnati, where he arrived about noon. 
All along the route, at every railroad-station, thou- 
sands of people had assembled to catch a glimpse of 
the coming President and shout their welcome. 

At Cincinnati Air. Lincoln's reception was almost 
S 



114 ^^^^ Children's Life of Abraham Lincobi. 

overwhelming. The streets v/ere jammed with peo- 
ple, and it was with great difficulty that his escort 
forced a passage through the crowd to the Burnett 
House, which had been decorated and fitted up in 
the most beautiful manner in honor of his arrival. 
Mr. Lincoln remained at Cincinnati until the next 
morning, when he set off for Columbus, the capital 
of the State, attended by a portion of the Ohio Leg- 
islature, who had come on to escort him thither. 
Upon their arrival at Columbus, the party proceeded 
to the State House, where Mr. Lincoln was greeted 
by the Lieutenant-Governor. To the Legislature 
Mr. Lincoln said : — 

'' It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, 
that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position 
to which the votes of the American people have called me. 
I am deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot 
but know — what you all know — that without a name, per- 
haps without a reason why I should have a name, there has 
fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the 
Father of his Country ; and so feeling, I cannot but turn and 
look for the support without which it will be impossible for me 
to perform that great task. I turn, then, and look to the 
great American people, and to that God who has never 
forsaken them." 

Observe how Mr. Lincoln constantly refers to his 
low origin. Some men would have been ashamed of 



Mr. Lincoln at Pittsburg. 115 

it ; he never was. He never forgot that he was born 
in a log-cabin ; he did not think that made him any 
better or any worse ; he was truly independent, and 
believed in the independence of all men. He feared 
no man, but he feared God ; that is, he feared to 
displease him, and loved to obey him. 

The following morning Mr. Lincoln left Columbus. 
The train paused at Steubenville, where he said to the 
people : " I fear that the great confidence placed in 
my ability is unfounded ; indeed, I am sure it is. 
Encompassed by vast difficulties, as I am, nothing 
shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by the 
American people and God." This was his trust from 
first to last, — God and the people. 

The train rushed on, and in the evening reached 
Pittsburg, where Mr. Lincoln was met, as usual, by a 
crowd of enthusiastic admirers, and escorted to the 
iVIonongahela House. Here he said that if all the 
whole-souled people whom he saw this evening before 
him were for the preservation of the Union, he did 
not see how it could be in much danger. In the 
morning he was waited upon by the Mayor and Com- 
mon Council of the city, to whom, after an address of 
welcome on their part, he said : — 

'•The condition of the country is an extraordinary one, 
and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. My advice 
is, to keep cool. If the great American people only keep 



Ii6 TJie Childreii s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

their temper on both sides of the line, the trouble will come 
to an end, and the question which now distracts the country 
will be settled ; and just as other clouds have cleared away 
in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper, as 
heretofore." 

Then he spoke of the tariff. " The tariff," said he, 
" is a question of national housekeeping. It is to the 
Government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the 
family." Then, quoting from the Chicago platform, 
he said: — 

" While providing revenue for the support of the general 
Government, by duties upon imports, sound policy requires 
such an adjustment of these imports as will encourage the 
development of the industrial interest of the whole country ; 
and we commend that policy of national exchanges which 
secures to working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remuner- 
ative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward 
for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation 
commercial prosperity and independence." 

Mr. Lincoln wanted to have everybody treated 
fairly; he did not wish one part of the nation to 
grow rich at the expense of another part, but he 
wanted all sections to enjoys equal ad\-antages. 

From Pittsburg he went to Cleveland. Here the 
shouts and cheers of the people blended with the 
thunders of cannon, as a long procession escorted him 
to the Weddell House, where he was greeted by the 
Ma^^or of the q\\x. Here Mr. Lincoln said : — 



Greeted by Men of all Parties. 1 1 7 

" \Ve have been marching about two miles, through snow, 
rain, and deep mud. The large numbers that have turned 
out under these circumstances testify that you are in earnest 
about something or other. I am given to understand that 
this reception is tendered, not only by my own party support- 
ers, but by men of all parties. This is as it should be. If 
Judge Douglas had been elected and had been here, on his 
way to Washington, as I am to-night, the Republicans should 
have joined his supporters in welcoming him, just as his 
friends have joined with mine to-night. If all do not join 
now to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, 
nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage."' 

The next morning Mr. Lincoln took his departure 
for Buffalo. An immense throng awaited his arrival, 
and escorted him to the American House, where he 
was, as usual, greeted by the Mayor, in reply to whose 
address he said : — 

" Your worthy Mayor has thought fit to express the hope 
that I may be able to relieve the country from the present, 
or, I should say, the threatened difficulties. I am sure I bring 
a heart true to the work. For the abiUty to perform it I 
must trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken 
this favored land, through the instrumentality of this great 
and intelligent people. Without that assistance I shall surely 
fail ; with it I cannot fail. Allow me to say that you, as a 
portion of the great American people, need only to maintain 
your composure, stand up to your sober convictions of right, 
to your obligations to the Constitution, and act in accordance 



ii8 The CJiildrcii's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

with those sober convictions ; and the clouds which now 
arise in the horizon will be dispelled, and we shall have a 
bright and glorious future. And when this generation has 
passed away, tens of thousands will inhabit this country, 
where only thousands inhabit it now." 

Mr. Lincoln's words were those of a prophet. A 
bright and glorious future is indeed dawning upon the 
nation, unstained by the foul blot of slavery; and this 
has been accomplished, as Mr. Lincoln said it would 
be, by the people, because they acted up to their 
earnest convictions of right. But little did he or they 
imagine then in how terrible a manner this was to be 
wrought out. God has his own ways to bring about 
all his purposes, and his ways are not always our 
ways. 

Mr. Lincoln remained at Buffalo over Sunday, and 
on Monday morning left for Rochester, at which 
place he spoke a few words to the assembled crowd. 
Then the train pushed on for Syracuse. Here the 
people had erected a very handsome platform for Mr. 
Lincoln to stand upon while he addressed them ; but 
there was not time for him to ascend it. He said a 
few kind words to them, however, and then proceeded 
to Utica. The train paused only a few moments, and 
then sped on to Albany, where a great procession es- 
corted Mr. Lincoln to the State House. Here, in an 
address to the Legislature, he said : — 



Mr. Linco Ill's Tnist in the People. 1 19 

" It is true that while I hold myself, without mock modesty, 
the humblest of all individuals that have ever been elevated 
to the Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform 
than any one of them. I don't propose to speak at this 
time of the policy of the Government. But when the time 
comes I shall speak, as well as I am able, for the good of the 
present and future of this country. — for the good both of 
the North and the South of this country, for the good of the 
one and the other, and of all sections of the country.'' 

Mr. Lincoln next passed on to Troy, where he 
thanked the people very kindly for their great recep- 
tion. At Hudson he spoke a few pleasant words, but 
had not time to ascend the beautiful platform which 
had been erected for him. At Poughkeepsie, where 
great honors were showered upon him, Mr. Lincoln 
said: — 

'' In accepting the great trust committed to me, which I 
do with a determination to endeavor to prove worthy of it, 
I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole country, 
for support ; and with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as 
I am, cannot fail to carry the ship of State safely through 
the storm." 

At Peekskill he said : — 

" If I can only be as generously and unanimously sustained 
as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate I shall be, I 
shall not fail ; but without your sustaining hands I am sure 
that neither I nor any other man can hope to surmount these 
difficulties." 



120 The Childreii's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Mr. Lincoln now proceeded to New York, where 
he arrived at three o'clock in the afternoon. Business 
was suspended, and all Broadway was crammed with 
the immense throng which tried to catch a glimpse of 
the future President, as he was being escorted to the 
Astor House. Mr. Lincoln stepped upon the balcony 
of the hotel, and showed himself to the excited multi- 
tude, who kept calling for him ; but he was too tired 
to make a speech. The next morning he was escorted 
with great honor to the City Hall, and welcomed by 
the Mayor. Mr. Lincoln said here : — 

'' I understand that the ship is made for the carrying and 
preservation of the cargo ; and so long as the ship is safe with 
the cargo, it shall not be abandoned. This Union shall never 
be abandoned, unless the possibility of its existence shall 
cease to exist, without the necessity of throwing passengers 
and cargo overboard." 

Mr. Lincoln now proceeded to Trenton, pausing 
for a little at Jersey City and Newark. At Trenton 
he was received by a portion of the Legislature, and 
escorted to the State House. Here he said : — 

•' May I be pardoned if upon this occasion I mention that 
away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being 
able to read, I got hold of a small book, — such a one as 
few of the younger members have ever seen, — Weems's ' Life 
of Washington.' I remember all the accounts there given of 
the battlefields and struggles for the liberties of the country ; 



The Union must be Preserved. 121 

and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply 
as the straggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing 
of the river, the contest with the Hessians, the great hard- 
ships endured at that time, — all fixed themselves upon my 
memory more than any single Revolutionary event ; and you 
all know, for you have all been boys, how these early impres- 
sions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, 
boy even though I was, that there must have been something 
more than common that these men struggled for. 

" I am exceedingly anxious that that thing which they 
struggled for, that something, even more than national inde- 
pendence, that something that held out a great promise to 
all the people of the world to all time to come, — I am ex- 
ceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the 
liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance 
with the original idea for which that struggle was made ; and 
I shall be most happy, indeed, if I shall be an humble instru- 
ment in the hands of the Almighty, and of this his most 
chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great 
struggle." 

Addressing the other branch of the Legislature, he 
said : " The man does not live who is more devoted 
to peace than I am, none who would do more to pre- 
serve it ; but it may be necessary to put the foot down 
firmly. And if I do my duty and do right, you will 
sustain me, will you not?" He was answered with 
hearty cheers and cries of " Yes, yes, w^e will." 

From Trenton Mr. Lincoln proceeded to Philadel- 



122 TJic Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

phia, and was escorted to the Continental House. 
While in this city he was invited to raise the national 
flag over old Independence Hall, where the Declara- 
tion of Independence was first published to the world. 
Before raising the flag he said : — 

'' I have often pondered over the dangers which were in- 
curred by the men who assembled here, and framed and 
adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pon- 
dered over the toils that were endured by the ofificers and 
soldiers of the army who achieved that independence. I 
have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it 
was that kept this confederacy so long together. It was not 
the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the 
mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this 
country, but hope to all the world for all future time. It 
was that which gave promise that in due time the weight 
would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all 
should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment em- 
bodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my 
friends, can this country be saved upon that basis .^ If it 
can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest men in the 
world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon 
that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country can- 
not be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to 
say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surren- 
der it. I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, 
and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.''' 



Mr. Lincoln reaches Washington. 123 

He was now escorted to a platform in front of the 
building, and the cord was placed in his hands. The 
beautiful flag arose to the top of the staff", and he says 
himself that " it floated gloriously to the wind, with- 
out an accident, in the bright, glowing sunshine of 
the morning." While the flag was being raised, the 
artillery roared out its loudest thunders, for an 
accompaniment. 

In the afternoon Mr. Lincoln took his departure 
for Harrisburg, stopping for a moment at Lancaster. 
He addressed the Legislature at the State Capitol, 
then devoted several hours to the reception of vis- 
itors, and at six o'clock in the evening retired to 
his room. Nobody saw him after that until he ar- 
rived safe in Washington the next morning. 

There was a good reason for this disappearance. 
You will recollect that a band of bad men had sworn 
that ]\Ir. Lincoln should never reach Washington 
alive. Some of Mr. Lincoln's friends, hearing a ru- 
mor of the plot, determined to find out if there were 
any foundation for it. For this purpose they em- 
ployed a skilful and experienced detective to sift the 
matter to the very bottom. This police-oflicer went 
to Baltimore some time before the expected arrival 
of Mr. Lincoln, and in a very ingenious manner suc- 
ceeded in unravelling the plot. He found that a 
large band of assassins, commanded by an Italian 



124 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

barber who called himself Orsini, had taken a solemn 
oath that Mr. Lincoln should never leave Baltimore 
alive, if, indeed, he should ever enter it; at all events, 
he should never be inaugurated. 

These fellows intended to throw the train oft* the 
track before it reached Baltimore ; but if they should 
fail to do this, the assassins were to mix with the 
crowd which should surround Mr. Lincoln's carriage 
as he passed through the city. They were to pretend 
to be his warmest friends and admirers, that they 
might get very close to the carriage ; and when near 
enough, their barber captain was to give a signal, at 
which some of these conspirators were to discharge 
pistols at Mr. Lincoln, and others were to throw hand 
grenades (small iron shells filled with detonating pow- 
der) into his carriage. This gang thought that by 
these combined measures Mr. Lincoln must surely be 
killed. They intended to save themselves by min- 
crlincf with the crowd, in the midst of the excitement 
which would naturally follow, and make good their 
escape to a vessel which was to be in waiting for 
them in the harbor. 

By the time that Mr. Lincoln had arrived at Phila- 
delphia, this skilful detective had discovered the en- 
tire plot; and he hurried on to that city to disclose 
it to our future President, and to warn him that he 
must not pass through Baltimore. 



How Mr. Lincoln Escaped. 125 

At first Mr. Lincoln could not credit the detective's 
story : he was so good himself that he could not be- 
lieve such evil of others ; moreover, he disliked to 
change his plans, and so disappoint the people who 
were expecting to see him. But at length, when his 
friends had convinced him that there could be no 
mistake about this horrible plot, he yielded to their 
solicitations and altered his arrangements. 

After retiring to his room at Harrisburg, as every- 
body thought to rest, he put on a Scotch plaid cap and 
a long military cloak, — according to some authorities, 
though others say that he was not disguised at all, — 
and stepping into a carriage which had been provided 
for him, was driven rapidly to the railroad-station, and 
returned in a special train to Philadelphia. As soon 
as he left the hotel at Harrisburg all the telegraph 
wires were cut, so that if his departure were discov- 
ered, it could not be made known to other cities. 

As soon as Mr. Lincoln arrived at Philadelphia, 
he boarded the night train for Washington, where he 
arrived safe the next morning at six o'clock. Mr. 
Washburn, member of Congress from Illinois, met 
him at the station, and escorted him to Willard's 
Hotel. It was immediately telegraphed all over the 
country that Mr. Lincoln was in Washington. \Mien 
those wicked conspirators heard that he had escaped 
them, and that their plans had been found out and 



126 TJic Children's Life of Abraham Lincobt. 

baffled, they were very much enraged, and still swore 
that he should never be inaugurated. 

Mrs. Lincoln, who, with her children, had remained 
behind in company with friends, soon followed her 
husband to Washington. 

Mr. Lincoln was waited on by the Mayor and Com- 
mon Council of the city, and was also serenaded. 
To the large crowd assembled on this occasion he 
said : — 

" We are in no wise disposed, if it were in our power, to 
oppress you, to deprive you of any of your rights under the 
Constitution of the United States, or even narrowly to split 
hairs with you in regard to these rights ; but are determined 
to give you, as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under 
the Constitution, — not grudgingly, but fully and fairly." 

This was the last time Mr. Lincoln appeared in 
public, until the day of his inauguration. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Lincoln's Inauguration. — Personal Appearance. — Habits. 

HE 4th of March, 1861, 
had now arrived. Great 
anxiety was felt, not 
only at Washington, 
but all over the Union, 
lest the inauguration 
should prove a scene 
of bloodshed. But the 
venerable General 
Scott, the good, brave, 
and loyal defender of his country, had made skilful 
provision against an outbreak. He had called out a 
large military force, and if assassins were present, 
they did not attempt to disturb the ceremony. 

An immense procession escorted Mr. Lincoln to 
the Capitol, where, standing on a magnificent plat- 
form erected for him on the east front of the edifice, 
he took the oath of office and delivered his inaugural 
address, — in the presence, it is said, of at least ten 




128 TJlc Children's Life of AbraJiain Lincoln. 

thousand persons. You shall have a few extracts 
from the Inaugural. Mr. Lincoln, after solemnly 
assuring the Southern people that he had no intention 
of meddling with slavery wherever it already existed, 
and after pledging them that all their rights under 
the Constitution would be respected, said : — 

" It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a 
President under our National Constitution. During that 
period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have, 
in succession, administered the Executive branch of the Gov- 
ernment. They have conducted it through many perils, and 
generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope for 
precedent, I now enter upon the same task, for the brief con- 
stitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar dilft- 
culty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only 
menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in con- 
templation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union 
of these States is perpetual. Continue to execute all tlie ex- 
press provisions of our National Government, and the Union 
will endure forever, — it being impossible to destroy it, ex- 
cept by some action not provided for in the instrument itself 

'*' I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and 
the laws, the Union is unbroken ; and to the extent of my 
ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly 
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully 
executed in ail the States. Doing this I deem to be only a 
simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as 
practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people. 



The Liaugural Address. 129 

shall withhold the requisite means, or in some authoritative 
manner direct the contrary. In doing this, there need be no 
bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless it be 
forced upon the national authority. The power confided to 
me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property 
and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the 
duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be necessary for 
these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force 
against or among the people anywhere. That there are per- 
sons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union 
at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will 
neither affirm nor deny ; but if there be such, I need address 
no word to them. 

" To those, however, who really love the Union may I not 
speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the 
destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its 
m'emories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain 
precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step 
while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you 
fly from have no real existence ? Will you, while the certain 
ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, — 
will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake ? All 
profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights 
can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly 
written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. 
Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can 
reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a 
single instance in which a plainly written provision of the 
Constitution has ever been denied. 

9 



130 TJic Childrcjis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

" Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot re- 
move our respective sections from each other, nor build an 
impassable wall between them. Intercourse, either amicable 
or hostile, must continue between them. Suppose you go to 
war, you cannot fight always ; and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the 
identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again 
upon you. 

" Why should there not be a patient confidence in the 
ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal 
hope in the world? In our present differences, is either 
party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty 
Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on 
your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth 
and that justice will surely prevail, by the judgment of this 
great tribunal of the American people. My countrymen, 
one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. 
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an 
object to hurry any one of you in hot haste to a step which 
you would never take deliberately, that object will be frus- 
trated by taking time ; but no good object can be frustrated 
by it. 

" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and 
not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Gov- 
ernment will not assail you ; you can have no conflict with- 
out being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath reg- 
istered in heaven to destroy the Government ; while I have 
the most solemn one to ' preserve, protect, and defend ' it. 
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We 



Mr. Liucoliis Personal Appearance. 131 

must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, 
it must not break, our bonds of affection. The mystic cords 
of memory, stretching from every battlefield and every patriot 
grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this 
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when 
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of 
our nature." 

Perhaps you would like to know, children, how this 
man looked, who talked so earnestly, so calmly, and 
so affectionately to all the people in the United 
States, but in particular, to those who wanted to get 
out of the United States. You must imagine to 
yourselves a tall man, very tall, indeed, with a mas- 
sive frame and very long limbs. He was also thin in 
flesh, and some persons have called him awkward in 
his movements. His head was large and finely de- 
veloped. He had a good forehead, fine, dark gray 
eyes, a slightly Roman nose, a large mouth, and a 
very dark complexion. His hair was black, but 
tinged with gray, and his voice was rich and silvery. 
His expression was kind and winning, though habitu- 
ally sad. It has been said that his face, when in 
repose, would not be likely to attract notice ; but in 
addressing an audience he possessed a very remark- 
able power of commanding their attention. Every 
eye was fastened upon him, and all were silent as death. 
His countenance became glowing, his eye lustrous, 



132 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Li Ji coin. 



and his whole appearance, instead of being awkward 
or ungainly, was now graceful and eloquent. He 
was habitually neat in his dress, but not fashionable. 

His habits were as pure and simple as a child's. 
He never drank anything intoxicating, not even 
wine, nor used tobacco in any way. This was the 
kind, noble, pure-hearted man that stood in presence 
of this vast multitude, and begged every person who 
thought of trying to get out of these United States 
to stop a moment and ask himself what he wanted to 
get away from. He earnestly advised all such per- 
sons to count the cost, and see if they could gain 
anything by it. He did not tell them that he did not 
think he had any right to coerce them or meddle 
with them, whatever they did ; on the other hand, he 
told them expressly that he should use the power 
confided to him to hold, occupy, and possess the 
property and places belonging to the Government, 
and that he should collect the duties and imposts. 
But he also told them that in doing this there need 
be no violence or bloodshed, and that there would 
be none, unless they themselves began the strife. 

They did begin it, as you shall presently hear. 
South Carolina was the first State to make war upon 
the Union, as she had been the first to secede from 
it. To her belong the fame and the shame of begin- 
ning the unholy contest. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

President Lincoln chooses his Cabinet. — The "Star of the 
West." — Anderson's Letter. — The President's Dilemma. 
— Surrender of Fort Sumter demanded and refused. — 
Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Anderson Surrenders. — 
Exultation of the South. — Indio:nation of the North. 




RESIDENT LINCOLN was in- 
augurated and sworn into office, 
and then made public the names 
of his Cabinet, — his official fam- 
ily, with whom he might sit down 
and consult concerning the mo- 
mentous affairs of the nation. He 
appointed William H. Seward of 
New York Secretary of State, 
Salmon P. Chase of Ohio Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, Simon Cam- 
eron of Pennsylvania Secretary 
of War, Gideon Welles of Connecticut Secretary 
of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith of Indiana Secretary of 
the Interior, Montgomery Blair of Maryland Post- 



134 'r^^^ Childre7i's Life of AbraJiain Lincoln. 

master-General, and Edward Bates of Missouri At- 
torney - General. The Senate confirmed all these 
appointments, and thus these gentlemen became Mr. 
Lincoln's Cabinet. 

You will recollect how angry the South Carolinians 
were because Major Anderson removed from Fort 
Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and also that Mr. Floyd, 
Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of War, resigned on ac- 
count of that removal, because he said President 
Buchanan in allowing it had broken his promise. 
Floyd and several other members of this Cabinet 
said that Mr. Buchanan had pledged himself that no 
change should be made in the forts in Charleston 
Harbor, and that no reinforcements should be sent 
to any of these forts. The Northern people had 
begun to feel very anxious for the fate of these forts, 
and of Fort Sumter in particular; for it was well 
known that Major Anderson had but a handful of 
men, and was nearly out of provisions. 

Some generous merchants in New York, fearing 
that the Government did not intend to do anything 
for the brave Major, resolved to take the matter into 
their own hands. They contributed a large amount 
of money, and selected a steamer for the expedition. 
But before their preparations were completed, they 
found that the Government had decided to send sup- 
plies to the fort ; so they gave up their plan. The 



The ''Star of the Wcstr 135 

Government made all its arrangements for reinforcing 
the Major with the greatest secrecy. 

The steamer " Star of the West " was selected for 
the purpose, and sailed from New York, pretending 
that she was bound for Havana and New Orleans. 
She left the wharf on the 5th of January, at five 
o'clock in the afternoon, and being midwinter, it 
was of course so dark at that hour that nobody 
could see what she did. She steamed down the bay 
just as if she had started on her course, but presently 
hove to and took on board soldiers, arms, ammuni- 
tion, and supplies, and then put out to sea, bound for 
Charleston Harbor. She arrived off the bar a little 
past one o'clock, on the morning of the 9th instant. 
The lighthouses were as dark as pitch, for the Rebels 
had put out all the lights. The steamer groped along 
as well as she could, taking soundings constantly with 
her lead. 

By and by the day dawned, and it was discovered 
that another steamer was close by. Immediate!}' all 
the troops on board the " Star of the West " were 
sent below, and no one but the crew was allowed on 
deck, in order that no one might suspect what she 
came for. But probably everybody who saw her 
knew what she was and what she came for ; for even 
then the Rebels had their spies in all the Northern 
cities, who kept them constantly informed by tele- 



136 TJic Children's Life of AbraJimn Lincoln. 

graph of all that was going on. At all ev^ents, when 
she arrived within two miles of Fort Sumter, a 
masked battery on Morris Island opened fire upon 
her, although she was flying the American flag at the 
time. The steamer continued on her way for about 
ten minutes, under fire from this battery, when 
another steamer, with an armed schooner in tow, 
was seen approaching. The captain of the " Star of 
the West" now concluded that, as he had no cannon 
to defend himself with, it would be madness for him 
to attempt to proceed ; so he turned about and 
put to sea, and thus no supplies reached Major 
Anderson. 

But although the *' Star of the West " did not 
accomplish anything, the Rebel members of Mr. 
Buchanan's Cabinet were very angry that she was 
even allowed to sail, and Jacob Thompson resigned 
on that account. President Buchanan did not take 
the least notice of this insult to our flag, nor did he 
make any further attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter. 

On the 28th of February Major Anderson's case 
had become so desperate that he wrote a letter to 
the War Department at Washington, describing the 
perils of his situation, and saying that, in his opinion, 
it would require a force of twenty thousand men to 
throw reinforcements into his garrison in season to 
save him from starvation. This letter was not re- 



Fort Sumter in Datiger. 137 

ceiv^ed by the Department until the 4th day of 
March. The next day it was presented to President 
Lincoln, who immediately laid the case before 
General Scott. After thinking this subject over 
carefully for four whole days, and consulting officers 
both of the army and navy. General Scott was 
obliged to conclude that the Major was right. But 
he told the President he did not know what could be 
done about the matter, for the Government had not 
such a body of men at its disposal ; neither could it 
raise them, before the garrison would be out of 
provisions. 

Now, these were rather startling facts to stare the 
President in the face at the very beginning of his 
administration. What should he do? If he should 
abandon Fort Sumter, he would be ruined; for the 
Rebels would then conclude that they could do any- 
thing they pleased, and the North would think that 
the President did not intend to hinder them. But 
Major Anderson could not remain in the fort and 
starve ! Fort Pickens was also in great peril. 

The President was in a sad dilemma. He did not 
want to use force against the Rebels if he could help 
it. He had told them, in his inaugural address, that 
there would be no war unless they began it; but he 
had also told them that they could not be allowed to 
steal the property of the United States. After a 



138 The Childrciis Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

great deal of reflection and a conference with Gen- 
eral Scott, the President finally concluded that he 
would reinforce Fort Pickens to begin with, because 
he thought he had men enough at his command to 
do this ; and perhaps by the time this was accom- 
plished, a way might be devised for reinforcing Fort 
Sumter. 

Accordingly the President despatched an order to 
the commander of the steamship ** Brooklyn " to 
carry the troops in his vessel to Fort Pickens ; but, 
from some cause or other, these troops had been 
transferred to the frigate " Sabine," and the com- 
mander of the ** Sabine " said he should not land his 
troops in Fort Pickens, because it was contrary to 
the armistice of ex-President Buchanan. A good 
deal of time had been consumed in sending this 
order, and it took as much more for the President's 
messenger to return to him and tell him that the 
commander of the *' Sabine" refused to obey orders. 

Here was a dilemma for the President worse than 
the first; however, he w^as equal to it. He had not 
been idle while his messenger was gone to Fort 
Pickens, but had been preparing an expedition con- 
sisting of several vessels, with men, arms, ammuni- 
tion, and provisions, to be sent to Fort Pickens if 
necessary, and also to stop by the way and throw 
supplies into Fort Sumter. The President ordered 



Major Anderson refuses to Surrender. 139 

this expedition to sail at once, and also despatched 
another order to the commander of the *' Sabine," 
and Fort Pickens was at length amply reinforced. 
Governor Pickens of South Carolina was now in- 
formed that provisions would be sent to Fort Sum- 
ter, — peaceably if possible, but otherwise by force. 
At all events, the garrison was to be provisioned. 

Upon this, General Beauregard, who commanded 
the Rebel forces at Charleston, was ordered to de- 
mand the instant surrender of Fort Sumter. Major 
Anderson refused to comply with this insolent demand. 
Beauregard, who knew that the garrison was nearly 
starved out, now asked the Major when he would evac- 
uate the fort, at the same time telling him that if he 
would promise not to use his guns against the Rebels 
unless they first opened fire upon him, they would not 
fire upon Fort Sumter. Major Anderson replied to 
this that he would evacuate the fort by noon of the 
15th, unless before that time he should receive supplies 
or instructions from his Government. But it did not 
suit the Rebels to wait so long as this ; because they 
knew that supplies were on the way to the Major, 
although the Major himself did not know anything 
about it. So the Rebels sent an instant reply that 
they should open their batteries upon the fort within 
one hour, unless the Major surrendered. 

The South Carolinians had been engaged for about 



140 The Children's Life of AbraJimn Liiicobi. 

three months in erecting batteries around this fort, 
and strengthening those already there, until it was 
threatened by a line of fortifications extending around 
three quarters of a circle. All this had been going 
on under the Major's eyes ; but he was powerless to 
stop it; he had done the best he could, however, to 
strengthen himself within his own fort, for he expected 
an attack sooner or later from the Rebels. The fort 
was in an unfinished condition, and but very few of 
the guns were in position when he took possession of 
it. He had been able to mount only fifty-two in all, 
and but few of these were his heaviest pieces ; while 
those of the enemy w^ere, many of them, of very 
heavy calibre. Thus the brave Major was in a poor 
condition to sustain a siege. 

The Rebel batteries began the bombardment on 
Friday, the 1 2th of April, at half-past four o 'clock 
in the morning. The Major took it with the utmost 
coolness, and made every preparation for the safety 
of his men, before he allowed any return fire to be 
made. He ordered all the sentinels to leave their 
posts on the parapets, closed the posterns, sent w^ord 
to the men on no account to leave the bomb-proofs 
until the drum should summon them, then defiantly 
ran up the glorious old stars and stripes, and left the 
enemy to bang away, while he made preparations for 
breakfast. At half-past six the garrison all partook 



Fort Sumter Fired upon. 141 



of this meal as leisurely as though nothing unusual 
was the matter. After breakfast Major Anderson 
divided his men into three reliefs ; each relief was to 
work four hours at a time at the different batteries. 
All this time the Rebels had been pouring shot and 
shells into the fort. 

At seven o'clock the garrison was ready to reply. 
The first relief took its station at the guns, and opened 
upon Cummings' Point battery, Fort Mouhrie, and 
Sullivan's Island. Captain Doubleday, who was one 
of the commanders of this relief, had the honor of 
firing the first gun. During the first four hours the 
firing was kept up with such rapidity that the Rebels 
thought the fort must have been secretly reinforced. 
The ""enthusiasm of the men was so great that Major 
Anderson could not restrain them. The second and 
third reliefs could not be kept from the guns, and 
even the common laborers, who were not soldiers at 
all, would come and help ; so that, in fact, everybody 
in the fort was at work. 

By and by one of the guns was thought to be in so 
dangerous a position that Major Anderson ordered 
ever^'ybody away from it, and said it must not be fired 
any more. Pretty soon one of the officers heard this 
very gun go bang ! He went to it, and what do you 
think he saw? — a party of the common laborers serv- 
ing it, with not a single soldier to help them. '' What 



142 The Cliildren's Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

are you doing with that gun? " said the ofhcer. " Oh, 
sir," repHed one of them, who could hardly speak 
for the tears of joy which choked him, " we hit the 
battery right in the centre." 

Thus these brave fellows worked. Meanwhile the 
scene within the fort became terrific. Heavy splinters 
of wood and iron were flying in every direction ; red- 
hot shot came pouring in, setting the wood-work on 
fire and blinding and suffocating the men with the 
smoke; thirty-two pounders tore up the ground at 
their feet, covering them with mud and earth; and 
by and by an immense ninety-six pounder came 
bursting in just above the magazine. 

On Friday, while the fire was at its hottest, some- 
body looking through the port-holes descried the 
vessels in our fleet, which the President had sent. 
Our ships were off the bar and dipped their flag. 
Major Anderson immediately ordered Fort Sumter's 
flag to be dipped in return ; his order was obeyed by 
some of our brave fellows, amid the bursting of shells 
in every direction. 

About noon, on Friday, it was discovered that all 
the cartridges were used up ! Thereupon the men 
stripped off their shirt-sleeves, tore up their sheets 
and blankets, and a party of five shut themselves up 
in the magazine and began to sew for dear life, mak- 
ing cartridges ; and at it they kept until every avail- 



Fort Suiutcr Surrenders. 143 

able piece of cloth in the fort had been used. At 
last Major Anderson, fearing that the magazine would 
be entirely surrounded with flames, set the men to 
work taking out the powder. They rolled out ninety- 
six barrels through the ragirtg fire, at the peril of their 
lives. When it became so hot that they could not 
get any more, they locked the doors of the magazine. 
All the wood-work within the fort now burned so 
rapidly that it was useless to attempt to put it out, and 
the danger became so great that all this powder had 
to be thrown into the sea, except three barrels, which 
the men managed to protect with wet mattresses. 

The smoke was now so thick that the men could 
not see one another, and they were obliged to cover 
their mouths with wet cloths and throw themselves 
on the ground, face downward, in order to breathe. 
They had nothing to eat but salt pork, which was 
served to them at the guns. Thus these brave men 
fought on for thirty-four hours. At length the flag- 
staff was shot away. One of the officers rushed boldly 
out and brought away the flag ; but the halliards were 
so tangled that it was impossible to right it; so they 
nailed the flag to the staff, and planted it on the ram- 
parts. About this time General Wigfall came up to 
one of the embrasures, with his handkerchief tied to 
his sword for a flag of truce, and in the name of Gen- 
eral Beauregard demanded the surrender of the fort. 



144 T^Ji-^ CJiildren's Life of Abraham Lincoln . 

Major Anderson, thinking it would be madness to 
remain any longer, acceded to Beauregard's demands, 
and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, 
with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away 
all company and private property, aiid saluting the 
dear old flag zvitJi fifty gims. The men spent Sunday 
morning in making cartridges with which to fire the 
salute. When the last gun was fired the flag was 
lowered ; but some of its brave defenders lived to 
see it raised again. At the firing of the last gun 
an accident happened, by which one man was killed 
and several were wounded. This was the only death 
that occurred, on our side, during the whole bom- 
bardment, although several were wounded at diff"er- 
ent times within the fort. The Rebels also have 
always positively declared that no death occurred on 
their side during this engagement ; but this statement 
has been doubted. 

The South Carolinians and the South generally felt 
very proud that they had been able to compel the 
surrender of so strong a fortress as Fort Sumter. 
They thought they were now in a fine condition to 
carry on war, if necessary, against the North ; but 
they did not believe the North would ever fight. The 
Northern people had borne so much from them al- 
ready, and allowed Mr. Buchanan to help them so 
much, without even remonstrating against it, that the 



Would the North Fight? 145 



Rebels concluded the North were such lovers of peace 
that they would permit them to steal all the forts and 
everything else they wanted, and go out of the Union 
unmolested, rather than have any bloodshed. 

They did not quite understand President Lincoln : 
they thought it was barely possible, if they were too 
saucy, that he might declare war; but they called 
him a coward, and looked upon him as a nobody, who 
was no match for their consummate skill and talent. 
They thought, moreover, that if President Lincoln 
should have the audacity to advise war, it would split 
the North in two, and about half would go over to 
their side, and thus they would become invincible. 
So, after the capture of Fort Sumter, and after the 
stars and stripes had been pulled down from that 
fortress, and the Confederate and Palmetto flags had 
been hoisted in their stead. Governor Pickens shame- 
lessly boasted to the people of the South that these 
flags should never be lowered from Fort Sumter, 
unless they were lowered and trailed in a sea of blood. 
He said : — 

" It is the first time that the stars and stripes have been 
humbled. They have triumphed for seventy years, but to- 
day they have been humbled, and humbled before the glori- 
ous little State of South Carolina ; and I pronounce here, 
before the civilized world, your independence is baptized in 
blood, your independence is won upon a glorious battlefield; 



146 The CJiildrciis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

and you are free now and forever, in defiance of a world in 
arms." 

This is the way that Governor Pickens tried to 
render himself and his State immortal, — a kind of im- 
mortality one would think that he would now be very 
glad to part with. The Rebel Secretary of War, Mr. 
Walker, said at Montgomery, that while no one could 
tell where the war would end, he would prophesy that 
the Confederate flag would float over the dome of the 
old Capitol at Washington before the 1st of May, and 
that it might eventually float over Faneuil Hall itself. 
The Rebels had certainly made the boldest and most 
extraordinary preparations for executing their threats. 
Previous to the capture of Fort Sumter, they had 
stolen all the arsenals, dockyards, custom-houses, and 
forts, and all the property in and about them, — both 
that which they could carry off, and that which was 
stationary in all the seceded States, except Fort Pick- 
ens, opposite Pensacola, on Santa Rosa Island, Fort 
Taylor, at Key West, and Fort Jefferson, at the Dry 
Tortugas. They had garrisoned and strengthened all 
these forts, and had built some new ones besides, and 
were also preparing to besiege those which they had 
not yet taken possession of. 

You already know that Mr. Floyd had stripped the 
North of its firearms. Other members of Mr. Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet had also done their part in aiding 



Traitors. 147 



the Rebels. Mr. Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, had 
despatched all the war vessels to foreign countries and 
distant seas, so that in case of rebellion our Govern- 
ment would have no ships at hand for service. Mr. 
Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, had aided the treason 
with money from the public funds. 

Since the Rebel Government had organized, it had 
borrowed eight millions of dollars, had called into the 
field at the South a force of nineteen thousand men, 
and as soon as Virginia should give notice that she 
intended to join the Confederacy, sixteen thousand 
more were ready to march to her borders. Efforts 
were also in progress to create a navy. 

Now, it would be well for you to know just how 
wicked these Rebels were. There were thousands of 
honest men in the South, but these men were trai- 
tors. They were planning to destroy the Government 
of the United States, and they openly boasted that they 
had been making preparations to do this for many 
years. They intended to put everybody out of power 
whom the people had chosen, and place themselves in 
authority, and make such laws as suited them, instead 
of those that pleased the people. For thirty years 
they had been drilling their young men for soldiers, 
and making all sorts of arrangements to effect these 
things ; but they had never been very bold about 
their plans until Mr. Buchanan was President, for there 



148 The CJiildrciis Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

had never before been a President that would have 
allowed them to carry out their designs. But as he 
and two thirds of his Cabinet had helped them all 
they could, the Rebels, by the time Mr. Lincoln took 
his seat were in a condition to assume a warlike 
attitude toward the United States. 

These forts and other property at the South, which 
the Rebels had taken possession of, did not belong 
to the several States in which they were situated, but 
were the property of the whole United States, and 
were built at the expense of all the people in the 
United States. Fort Sumter alone cost a million of 
dollars. So you see, with all their other sins, what 
horrible thieves they were. 

But President Lincoln and a great portion of the 
Northern people thought these forts could be quietly 
retaken after a while. They did not dream that the 
South would do such an unheard-of and barbarous 
thing as to shed the blood of Union soldiers with- 
out any provocation whatever. When the telegraph 
with its thousand tongues proclaimed the shocking, 
shameful story that a little band of brave, half-starved 
Union soldiers had been fired upon for refusing to 
deliver up their fort to these robbers, because the 
President was going to send them something to eat, 
no pen can describe what a feeling of horror and of 
holy indignation was aroused in every Union breast. 



War, War/" 14^ 



All of you children who are old enough to read 
this book have doubtless heard your fathers and 
mothers describe those times. " War, war! '" was the 
cry which rose to every loyal lip, from women as well 
as men. The South meant to divide the North ; they 
could not have done anything to bind it more firmly 
together. That Union blood shed at Fort Sumter, 
which Governor Pickens so shamelessly boasted had 
baptized the independence of South Carolina, had 
instead cemented all the Union-loving hearts in these 
United States into 07ie heart and one soul, and roused 
in them one glorious, mighty determination to put 
down, at whatever cost, such an unholv rebellion. 



CHAPTER XV. 

President Lincoln calls for Troops. — Enthusiasm at the North. 
— Virginia secedes. — Letters of Marque. — Blockade. — 
President Lincoln improvises a Navy. — Calls for more 
Troops. 




N Monday, the next day after the evacu- 
ation of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln 
issued a proclamation, part of which is 
given below: 

PROCLAMATION 
By the President of the United States. 
Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some 
time past, and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof 
obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combi- 
nations too powerful to be suppressed by the oRlinary course 
of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the mar- 
shal by law : now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President 
of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by 
the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, 
and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of 
the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, 



The First Call for Troops. 1 5 1 

in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the 
laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be 
immediately communicated to the State authorities, through 
the War Department. 

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid 
this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence 
of the National Union and the perpetuity of popular govern- 
ment, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. 
I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the 
forces hereby called forth wnll probably be to repossess the 
forts, places, and property which have been seized from 
the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be ob- 
served, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any 
devastation, any destruction of, or any interference with, prop- 
erty, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens ot any part of 
the country ; and I hereby command the persons composing 
the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peace- 
ably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this 
date. 

You will notice how mildly yet firmly Mr. Lincoln 
talks. If the President had been obeyed and allowed 
quietly to retake the Government property, even the 
unprovoked assault upon Fort Sumter would have 
been forgiven, and there would have been no war. 
But the Rebels laughed this proclamation to scorn. 
Instead of going to their homes, they began to make 
every preparation to seize upon Washington. 

At the North, however, the President's proclama- 



I'V 



152 The CJiildreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

tion created the greatest enthusiasm. Almost every- 
body was ready to respond to his call for troops. 
Ministers left their pulpits, doctors their patients, 
lawyers their clients, merchants their counters, me- 
chanics their workshops, and farmers their fields. 
Students who were mere boys left their schools and 
colleges, and even some girls disguised themselves as 
boys and enlisted. Noble women went into hospitals 
as nurses. Massachusetts — to her everlasting honor 
be it spoken — was the first in the field. The glo- 
rious Massachusetts Sixth left Boston, completely 
equipped, for the national capital, on the next day 
after the proclamation was issued. In less than two 
days, two more regiments were on the way, and regi- 
ment after regiment, from all the Northern States, 
made all possible haste to answer the President's call. 
War-meetings were held in every village, and men and 
money without stint were offered to the Government. 

The Massachusetts Sixth passed through Baltimore, 
Maryland, on the 19th of April, where they were at- 
tacked by an armed secession mob ; several of the 
soldiers were killed, and others severely wounded. 
It raised the indignation and excitement of the North 
to the highest pitch to learn that soldiers, on their 
way to protect the national capital, had been assailed 
and murdered in a State that professed to be loyal. 

On the other hand, the South were in an equal 



Virgifiia Secedes. 



153 



state of excitement. The seceded States were very 
anxious that Virginia should join them. The State 
convention was in session at this time, but she had 
not decided whether she should 
remain in the Union or not, until 
the President issued his procla- 
mation calling for troops; then 
she immediately passed an ordi- 
nance of secession. A portion 
of the Virginians, how- 
ever, who were loval, 



.^ly^n^ 



¥ 



Lm- ' 



would not agree to 
this, and formed a 
separate government, 
which President 
coin recognized ; for 
he thought the loyal 
people in Virginia ought to 
constitute the State of Vir- 
ginia. But Jefferson Davis 
claimed the State as his, and 
removed the seat of govern- 
ment from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, 
Virghiia. He wanted to be nearer the North ; for 
he declared his intention to push the war into the 
North, and said that whenever the war should open, 
the North, and not the South, should be the field 
of battle. 




OFF TO THE WAR. 



154 ^/^^ CJiildreii s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

But his first object was to take Washington. For 
this purpose, very soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
all roads and avenues leading to the city of Washing- 
ton were obstructed. The mails in every direction 
were stopped, and all the telegraph wires leading into 
the city were cut. The Potomac River was block- 
aded, and for several days the forces which the Presi- 
dent had called out for the protection of the city of 
Washington were unable to pass through Maryland. 
Railroads were torn up, bridges burned, and Union 
soldiers killed. 

Jefferson Davis now rapidly pushed an army into 
Virginia, and very soon twenty thousand men were 
on her soil. He also issued a proclamation offering 
letters of marque to all persons who wished to help 
the Rebels and enrich themselves by plundering and 
destroying the ships of the United States. A letter 
of marque is a commission, or license, which a sover- 
eign or the ruler of a nation grants to a subject to 
prey upon the ships of another nation with whom he 
is at war. But Jefferson Davis was not a sovereign, 
nor the rnler of a nation ; he was only a rebel in arms 
against his own nation, and had no more right to grant 
letters of marque than either you or I have, and all 
who accepted them made themselves pirates. 

In order to prevent such proceedings. President 
Lincoln, on the 19th of April, issued a proclamation 



Southcrti Ports Blockaded. 155 

saying that a competent force would be posted to pre- 
vent any vessel from entering or leaving any of the 
Rebel ports. This was called the blockade ; and the 
President declared that anybody who should, under 
the authority of these pretended letters of marque, 
molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons 
and cargo on board of her, should be treated as a 
pirate. 

The next day after issuing this proclamation the 
President called all his Cabinet together at the office 
of the Navy Department, and held a grand council 
with them to see what was best to be done in such an 
extraordinary state of affairs. Congress had ad- 
journed, and there was not time to call an extra 
session. Something must be done at once. The 
President therefore told these gentlemen, who consti- 
tuted his official family, that it was for him to choose 
whether, in the absence of Congress to devise meas- 
ures for the public safety, he should sit still and let 
the Government go to ruin, or avail himself of the 
broader powders which the Constitution confers upon 
the President in time of an insurrection, and try to 
save it. They all concluded that, come what would, 
the country must be saved. 

At the time a great many persons — and some of 
them were very good Union men, too — thought the 
President exceeded his power, and did things which 



156 TJie Childreiis Life of Abralunn Lincobi. 

he had no right to do. But whoever calmly and can- 
didly reviews his whole course, from first to last, will 
probably say that in reality he was the wisest man in 
the whole country; and that if he had not taken just 
the very course he did take in the month of April, 
1 86 1, our nation would have been split into a thou- 
sand fragments, and to-day we should be without a 
name or a country. 

Some California treasure-ships were daily expected, 
and it was feared that the Rebels intended to rob them 
of their gold ; so the President immediately despatched 
an armed revenue cutter to sea for their protection. 
He had no ships of war at hand, as you already know ; 
Mr. Toucey had scattered them in every direction. 
The President therefore ordered the commandants of 
the navy-yards at Boston, Philadelphia, and New 
York, each to purchase or charter and arm five steam- 
ships as quickly as possible for the public defence. 
This would give him fifteen vessels to begin with. 
He also directed other parties to purchase and arm 
four more vessels, for the purpose of opening the 
passages by water to and from the capital. 

At that time there were a great many traitors in all 
the departments of the Government, and it was im- 
possible for the President to tell who could be trusted. 
But that he might not be foiled in his plans, he di- 
rected that certain private gentlemen, of whose loyalty 



TJie Second Call for Troops. 1 5 7 

there could be no doubt, should assist in carrying 
them into effect; and in order that his directions 
might reach these persons in safety, the President 
sent trusty messengers, who took a very roundabout 
way to reach their destinations, going from Washing- 
ton across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio to 
the Northern lakes, and thence to the sea-coast. 

On the day of this famous Cabinet meeting that we 
have spoken of, the President directed that all the 
telegraph despatches which had accumulated in all 
the various offices during the preceding year should 
be seized, to see if they would throw any light upon 
the plans of the Rebels. About this time the Rebels 
stole the arsenal at Harper's Ferry and the navy-yard 
at Gosport. 

Washington was now a camp. It was filled with 
soldiers, and every preparation was being made to 
defend it from attack. But the President soon found 
that there was a great deal else to be done besides 
protecting Washington, and that the number of troops 
he had called out was by no means large enough to 
suppress the Rebellion. Most of the men who so 
nobly and promptly had answered the President's call 
expected to serve only three months, and had hastily 
left their business, intending to return to it at the ex- 
piration of that time ; for at first the President and 
most of the loyal people had thought the Rebellion 



158 TJic CJiildrcn' s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

would be crushed in less than that time. But they 
soon perceived their mistake. 

The President, beginning at length to see how des- 
perate the Rebels were, resolved to call out a large 
body of troops to serve for three years, if the war 
should last so long, that he might not be crippled and 
destitute of help when the time came for the ** ninety- 
days " men to go home. So on the 3d of May he 
issued another proclamation, calling for 42,034 volun- 
teers for three years, and ordering an addition of 
22,114 officers and men to the regular army, and 
18,000 seamen to the navy. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Secession Sympathizers. — Suspension of the Writ of Habeas 
Corpus. — Recognition of the Rebels as Belligerents by 
Foreign Powers. 



OW, my children, 
I must tell you of 
another trouble 
the President had 
to contend with. 
Although the ma- 
jority of the peo- 
ple of all parties in 
all the non-slave- 
holding States, as 
well as a good 
many^ in the slave- 
holding States themselves, were loyal and responded 
most bravely and generously to the calls of the Presi- 
dent, and resolved to send the last man and spend 
the last dollar, if need be, in aiding him to crush 
the Rebellion, — still there were also many persons 




i6o TJic Childrcii s Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

scattered over the country, in the very heart of the 
North even, who were traitors in their hearts, and, 
without exactly joining the Rebels, aided them se- 
cretly in various ways, and sometimes quite openly. 

The Rebels knew all about this ; and that was one 
of the things that made them so bold. They thought 
that even if no portion of the North actually went 
over to their side, they should nevertheless get a great 
deal of help from the North by means of these Rebel 
sympathizers. These persons were a great deal more 
dangerous and harder to contend with than the Rebels 
themselves. They were snakes in the grass ; you 
could not see them, but could feel their bite. Presi- 
dent Lincoln soon found out that these persons were 
likely to cause him a great deal of trouble. 

There were a great many traitors among the officers 
of the army and navy, although the President said, in 
his first message to Congress, that not one of the 
common soldiers or sailors had been known to desert 
their country when the Rebellion broke out. It was 
very hard for the President that traitors still held im- 
portant offices under the government. Some persons 
who held high civil offices were just as bad as the 
army and navy officers. You already know what dif- 
ficulties the President encountered in passing troops 
through Maryland. The Government of the State 
and a majority of the people professed to be loyal ; 



Rebel SympatJiizers. i6i 

but there was a big nest of secession in Baltimore, and 
these Rebels determined that no troops should pass 
through that city or any part of the State, if they 
could prevent it. The President told the Mayor of 
the city that he would not march any more troops 
through Baltimore, if he could avoid it, but that they 
must pass through some portion of the State, or the 
capital must be abandoned ; for he could not send 
troops safely by water. 

Soon after this some secession sympathizers went to 
see the President, and told him they thought there 
ought to be a cessation of hostilities until Congress 
should assemble; they also told him that if any more 
troops should be marched through Maryland, seventy- 
five thousand persons would contest their passage. 
President Lincoln very quietly replied to these fellows 
that there would be no cessation of hostilities until 
the Rebellion was crushed, and he presumed there 
was room enough on the soil of Maryland to bury 
seventy-five thousand men. 

In order to prevent in some degree the mischief 
which Rebel sympathizers were doing by giving the 
enemy aid and comfort, the President was obliged to 
resort to a measure which created a great excitement 
among his enemies, as well as among some of his 
friends. This measure was called " the suspension of 
the writ of habeas corpus." 



1 62 The Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Habeas corpus are two Latin words meaning *' You 
may have the body ; " and the intention of the writ is 
to deHver a person who has been falsely imprisoned. 
Thus, when any one thinks he has been imprisoned 
from some unjust cause or upon false accusation, he 
appeals to the writ of habeas corpus. This writ com- 
mands the sheriff, or any one else to whom it may be 
directed, to have the body of the person who has 
been deprived of his liberty immediately before some 
competent tribunal. The person who restrained the 
said prisoner must also be present, and he must bring 
with him the cause of the restraint, that all parties 
may be then and there lawfully judged. 

This Act was originally passed in England to pre- 
vent the king from becoming a despot, and unlawfully 
imprisoning his subjects ; and it was regarded so val- 
uable by those persons who made the Constitution of 
the United States that they said it should never be 
suspended, " unless when, in case of rebellion or inva- 
sion, the public safety may require it." Mr. Lincoln 
thought the time had come when the public safety did 
require it, and he thought the Constitution gave him a 
right to suspend it; accordingly he suspended it when- 
ever he thought proper. Many persons called him a 
despot, and said we should yet lose all our freedom, 
and the days of terror would come here, as they came 
in France in the time of the French Revolution. 



Writ of Habeas Corpus. 163 

Let us see now who the persons w^ere that Mr. Lin- 
coln deprived of the writ of habeas corpus. In the 
early part of May, the President, who knew that the 
small portion of Florida which we still held in our 
possession was infested with traitors, directed the 
commander of our forces in that region to remove 
everybody from the United States forts that he sus- 
pected or considered dangerous, and to allow nobody 
to exercise any authority which was inconsistent with 
the authority of the United States ; he also authorized 
him to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, if he should 
find it necessary. That is, if the commander thought 
the public safety required that a man should be im- 
prisoned, he could not be released until President 
Lincoln himself thought proper to give him up. Mr. 
Lincoln said : " You may not have the body until I 
think proper to deliver up the man." 

A few days after this, a man by the name of Merry- 
man, who lived in Maryland and was known to be a 
Rebel sympathizer, was arrested and imprisoned in 
Fort McHenry. The commander of this fort was Gen- 
eral Cadwallader. On the day of his arrest Mr. Merry- 
man sent a petition to Chief-Justice Taney, begging 
him to issue the writ of habeas corpus. The Chief- 
Justice immediately complied with this request, and 
commanded General Cadwallader to bring the body 
of Merryman before him on the 27th of that month. 



164 The CJiildrm's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

General Cadwallader sent word to the Chief-Justice 
that Mr. Merryman had been placed in his keeping 
by officers acting under the authority of the United 
States, and that said Merryman had been charged 
with various acts of treason. He was lieutenant of a 
band of armed Rebels, and had been heard frequently 
to say that he was willing to help anybody who was 
engaged in rebellion against the United States. Gen- 
eral Cadwallader went on to say that he had been 
duly authorized by the President to suspend the writ 
of habeas corpus whenever the public safety required 
it. He said he knew it was a very delicate trust ; but 
the President had also instructed him that if mistakes 
were made in time of civil war, they should be made 
on the side of safety to the country ; and consequently 
he should decline to obey the writ. 

Upon that the Chief-Justice issued an attachment 
against General Cadwallader for contempt of court. 
The marshal who was appointed to serve this attach- 
ment reported to the Chief-Justice that the General 
would not admit him within the walls of his fort, and 
consequently he could not serve the writ against him. 
The Chief-Justice now admitted that he could not 
help himself; but he openly declared it as his opinion 
that the President had no power to suspend the writ 
of habeas corpus, nor to allow anybody else to sus- 
pend it. Thus it would seem as if the Chief-Justice, 



Rebels'' or ''Belligerents'' ? 165 



instead of trying to help the President in his emer- 
o-ency, tried to hinder him all he could. 

Another writ also was issued by Judge Giles of 
Baltimore to Major :\Iorris of the Artillery at Fort 
McHenry. But the Major wrote to the Judge that he 
must refuse to obey the writ, because at the time it 
was issued, and for some time before, the city of Bal- 
timore had been completely under the control of the 
Rebels. United States soldiers had been murdered 
in her streets, and rebellious persons in the city had 
boldly said that they would capture Fort McHenry, 
if they could. The Legislature of the State was even 
then considering whether or not she should secede 
from the Union. The Major thought that all these 
things constituted rebellion, and that it was proper to 
suspend the writ of habeas corpus. 

Other rebellious persons were from time to time 
arrested in the same way in various parts of the coun- 
try ; but the President was very careful that the power 
should never be abused. 

Mr. Lincoln had another very difficult duty to per- 
form ; namely, to give foreign nations to understand 
that the United States would expect all other nations 
to regard the Rebels as rebels, and not as in any way, 
name, shape, or manner constituting an independent 
nation, with the right to carry on war. England, in 
the very beginning of the Rebellion, had called the 



1 66 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Rebels ** belligerents," and had declared her intention 
of remaining neutral; that is, she would neither help 
us nor the Rebels. Now, a belligerent is a nation or 
a State that has the right to carry on war. So Presi- 
dent Lincoln said the Rebels were not belligerents, 
but insurgents, or rebels in arms against their own 
Government, and must be so regarded by all other 
nations. I will give you a little extract from a letter 
which Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, sent to 
Mr. Adams, our Minister to England, which will ex- 
plain better than I can tell you what the Government 
said to England. Says Mr. Seward : — 

'' What is now seen in this country is the occurrence, by 
no means peculiar, but frequent in all countries, — more fre- 
quent, even, in Great Britain than here, — of an armed insur- 
rection engaged in attempting to overthrow the regularly 
constituted and established Government. There is, of course, 
the employment of force by the Government to suppress the 
insurrection, as every other Government necessarily employs 
force in such cases. But these incidents by no means con- 
stitute a state of war, impairing the sovereignty of the Govern- 
ment, creating belligerent sections, and entitling foreign States 
to intervene, or act as neutrals, between them." 

Communications expressing the same sentiments 
were sent to all foreign nations with whom we hold 
intercourse. 

Thus you see, children, the President's hands were 



The Presidenfs Great Difficulties. 167 

pretty full. He not only had to watch the Rebels at 
home and use all sorts of unheard-of means to sup- 
press them, — such as creating an army, improvising 
a navy, and setting aside the authority of the Chief- 
Justice himself; but he had to see that foreign nations 
did not encourage the Rebels to hold out in their 
strife, by admitting in any way that they had a right 
to take up arms against the United States. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Special Session of Congress. — The President's Message. — De- 
feat of our Troops at Bull Run. — McClellan succeeds 
McDowell. — Union Successes on the Coast. — Disaster at 
Ball's Bluff. — Scott's Resignation. — McClellan succeeds 
Scott. — Dranesville. — The Trent Affair. 



HEN the President 
issued his first proclama- 
tion calling for troops, 
he summoned Congress 
to assemble at the na- 
tional capital at noon on 
the fourth day of July. 

Doubtless the Rebels 
waited on purpose until 
Congress had adjourned, 
before they began hostil- 
ities. When they at- 
tacked Fort Sumter, the Senators and Representatives 
were scattered all over the Union. Probably the 
Rebels thought they should have time to get their 




special Scssio7i of Cojigress. 169 

mischief so far under way before Congress could be 
called together, that it would be impossible to stop it. 
The President feared this, too ; for while he immedi- 
ately summoned an extra session of Congress, he did 
not wait two or three months till the Congressmen 
could meet at Washington, and so let the country go 
to ruin, for fear that in trying to save it he might do 
something which some persons would find fault with 
as being unconstitutional ; but he took the liberty of 
doing everything which his excellent judgment and 
cool, clear common-sense told him must be done at 
home and abroad to save the nation. After a time 
the Rebels found that they had neither a coward nor 
a nobody to deal with. 

Congress met on the 4th of July, in response to the 
President's summons; and he immediately sent in his 
Message, in which he described the state of the coun- 
try and his own proceedings in regard to it, and also 
advised Congress to place such means at the disposal 
of the Government as would quickly end the contest 
and wind up the plots of the Rebels. 

For this purpose the President thought it would 
require four hundred thousand men and four hundred 
millions of dollars. The Rebels had become so deter- 
mined in their resistance that some persons began to 
think it would be better to have no more fighting, but 
let them go in peace, if they wanted to. But Presi- 



I/O The Childreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

dent Lincoln did not think it was possible to let them 
go ; and on this point he said in his Message : — 

'' The nation purchased with money the countries out of 
which several of these States were formed ; is it just that they 
shall go off without leave and without refunding? The nation 
paid very large sums (in the aggregate. I beHeve, nearly a 
hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes ; 
is it just that she shall now be off without consent or without 
making any return ? The nation is now in debt for money 
applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States, in 
common with the rest ; is it just that either creditors shall go 
unpaid, or the remaining States pay the whole ? A part of 
the present national debt was contracted to pay the old debts 
of Texas ; is it just that she shall leave and pay no part of 
this herself? 

" Again, if one State may secede, so may another ; and 
when all shall have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is 
this quite just to creditors ? Did we notify them of this sage 
view of ours when we borrowed their money? If we now 
recognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders to go in 
peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others choose 
to go or to extort terms upon which they will promise to 
remain." 

Remarking on another point of controversy, the 
President said : — 

'• Our popular Government has often been called an experi- 
ment. Two points in it our people have already settled, — 
the successful establishing and the successful administering 



President Lincoln s Message. 171 

of it. One still remains, — its successful maintenance against 
a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for 
them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly 
carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots 
are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets ; and that 
when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there 
can be no successfi^l appeal back to bullets ; that there can 
be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at suc- 
ceeding elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace ; 
teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, 
neither can they take by a war ; teaching all the folly of being 
the beginners of a war." 

Now, you know, children, that the Rebels bitterly 
learned the very lesson that Mr. Lincoln here teaches. 
They learned that what they could not obtain by 
their votes, they could not get by their bullets; and 
they learned their folly in beginning the war. Mr. 
Lincoln closes his Message, by saying: — 

" It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found 
the duty of employing the war power in defence of the Gov- 
ernment forced upon him. He could but perform this duty 
or surrender the existence of the Government. As a private 
citizen, the Executive could not have consented that these 
institutions shall perish ; much less could he, in betrayal of 
so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people have con- 
fided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, 
or even to count the chances of his own life, in what might 
follow. In full view of his great responsibility, he has so far 



172 The Childrciis Life of AbraJiam Line obi. 

done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according 
to your own judgment, perform yours. 

" And having thus chosen our course, without guile and 
with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go 
forward without fear and with manly hearts." 

Congress remained in session a month and two 
days. It adopted the strongest and most earnest 
measures for the suppression of the Rebellion, ap- 
proved of everything the President had done, and 
gave him even more power than he had asked for to 
carry on the war. The people were delighted at these 
proceedings, and felt sure that if such harmony con- 
tinued to exist between the President and Congress, 
the Rebellion would soon be crushed. But, alas ! it 
was a greater work than they had anticipated. All 
this time, since the fight at Sumter, the military on 
either side had not been idle. The Rebels were very 
enthusiastic for carrying on the war, and thousands 
of their young men had volunteered. The greater 
portion of their army was pushed up toward the 
Northern border, and the Rebels made the greatest 
exertions to induce Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, 
and Tennessee to join them. But the President was 
so judicious in his movements that all but the last- 
named State refrained from actually joining them. 

All through the latter part of spring and early part 
of the summer the Rebels had been constantly march- 



The Battle of Bull Rim. 173 

ing troops into Virginia, extending their lines from 
Harper's Ferry to Norfolk. They had also planted 
batteries all along the right bank of the Potomac, 
below Washington, and thus that city was in great 
danger. By the last of June they had taken up a very 
strong position along a small stream called Bull Run, 
their army numbering some thirty-five thousand men. 
The Rebels, who knew every inch of Virginia, had 
well chosen their ground. The situation was one of 
great natural strength, and it was very difficult to ap- 
proach it with an army, on account of woods and the 
uneven surface of the country. They had also pro- 
tected it with heavy earthworks. Our people had 
observed the movements of the enemy with great 
concern, and at length it was determined to attack 
this force and drive it away from the vicinity of 
Washington. Everybody believed this could be done, 
and that it would put an end to the war. 

About the middle of July the Union forces, which 
were stationed in front of Washington under the com- 
mand of General McDowell, took up the line of march 
for Manassas Junction. On the 21st a terrific battle 
was fought. Until late in the afternoon it was thought 
the victory would be ours, when suddenly the tide 
turned in favor of the Rebels, and our army, seized 
with a terrible panic, was not only defeated, but 
utterly routed. 



1/4 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincohi. 

Many of the soldiers turned and ran for Washing- 
ton, in spite of all the efforts of their officers to restrain 
them. But it must be remembered that most of these 
men came from peaceful pursuits, and had never been 
in a battle before. It is a very different thing to be 
in a battle from what it is to stay at home and talk 
and read about one. At the time both General Mc- 
Dowell and the soldiers were severely blamed ; but 
good judges have since thought that nobody was to 
blame, — that all did as well as they could under the 
circumstances. There had been considerable skir- 
mishing and some small engagements before in vari- 
ous places ; but this was the first great battle of the 
war, and our failure took everybody by surprise. 

All had counted on victory as sure, and we could 
hardly believe the terrible despatches which told us 
of our great disappointment. But nobody was dis- 
couraged, or thought of such a thing as giving up, 
although people began to see that it would take more 
than one battle to end the war, and that the only way 
was to try again, and keep on trying until God should 
see fit to bless us with success. 

The Rebels pursued our forces and established 
their pickets within a few miles of Washington, and 
before the end of the summer had a large army in 
front of the city. General McDowell had been so 
unfortunate at Bull Run that it was thought best to 



General McClellan in Command. 175 

place another commander over the Union troops. 
General McClellan was considered the most suitable 
man, and the day after the battle of Bull Run he was 
recalled from Western Virginia, where he had been 
successfully skirmishing with the enemy, and was 
placed in command of the army of the Potomac. 
Every effort was now made to reorganize and 
strengthen this army, and put it in a condition to 
push back the enemy. 

On the i6th of August the President issued a pro- 
clamation forbidding all intercourse with the seceded 
States, and on the same day General Wool took com- 
mand at Fortress Monroe, where a considerable body 
of our troops had been for some time under General 
Butler. The Government now determined to retake 
some of the places along the Atlantic coast which 
the Rebels had seized and fortified. 

For this purpose, in the latter part of August, a 
fleet of war vessels and transports left Fortress Mon- 
roe to make a combined military and naval attack 
upon Forts Hatteras and Clark, which the Rebels had 
erected on the north side of Hatteras Inlet. The ex- 
pedition, under the command of General Butler and 
Flag-Officer Stringham, was entirely successful ; and 
after a bombardment of a day and a half, both forts 
were captured, together with several hundred prison- 
ers, a large number of arms, and other valuable prop- 



176 TJie CJiildrejis Life of AbraJiani Lincoln. 

erty. In October a similar expedition was planned 
for the capture of Port Royal, an island on the coast 
of South Carolina, which the Government wanted for 
a naval rendezvous. Port Royal has a very fine 
harbor, where vessels drawing twenty-three feet of 
water can ride at anchor. But the approach to this 
harbor from the sea is across a dangerous bar or 
shoal. 

Before the war the channel across this bar was 
marked by buoys, which made the passage over it 
perfectly easy; but the Rebels, knowing that this 
would be a very fine position for the Government to 
occupy, had torn up all the old way-marks, in the 
hope that if any of our vessels attempted to sail in, 
they would be wrecked on the bar. The Yankees, 
however, were a match for them. This expedition, 
commanded by Flag-Officer Du Pont and General 
Sherman, sailed from Fortress Monroe on the 29th 
instant. 

On the third day after sailing, a heavy gale set in, 
which scattered the fleet in every direction. The 
wind blew like a hurricane for thirty hours ; but after 
it subsided, the ships found one another again, and in 
due time arrived off Port Royal bar. The first thing 
Du Pont did was to find the old channel and replace 
the buo3^s ; he had no idea of being wrecked on the 
bar, to begin with. The small vessels that could sail 



Capture of Port Royal. 177 

in shallow water were first sent over, and were met 
by a fleet of small Rebel steamers, which had come 
out to dispute their passage ; but the Yankees soon 
put them to flight. The next day all the big frigates 
crossed the bar and got ready for a fight, which it 
was expected would come off" the next morning ; but 
as it stormed very hard, Du Pont concluded to wait 
another day. 

At half-past nine o'clock on the morning of the 7th 
of November, Du Pont, at the head of his fleet, steamed 
up close to Bay Point, and poured a broadside into 
Fort Beauregard, which commanded one side of the 
harbor; then steaming around to the other side, he 
paid the same compliment to Fort Walker. In this 
manner all the fleet sailed around in a circle, firing 
first at one fort and then at the other, till two o'clock; 
by that time the Rebels were glad to give in. They 
did not stop to be taken prisoners, but ran off", leaving 
everything but their muskets. The forts were thus 
captured, with a large quantity of war materiel. 

While these successes were being gained, another 
disaster befell the army of the Potomac. When Gen- 
eral McClellan took command of this army, it num- 
bered about fifty thousand men; but fresh troops 
poured in faster than the Government could arm 
them, notwithstanding every armory in the country 
was filled with men working at the top of their speed 



178 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

day and night and Sundays too, and the Government 
had sent agents to foreign countries to purchase arms. 
By the middle of October such had been the activity 
and patriotism of the people that the Army of the 
Potomac numbered more than a hundred and fifty 
thousand men, with a large artillery force. The 
troops were in splendid condition, in excellent disci- 
pline, and under the command of very skilful officers. 
All, officers and men, were alike impatient to move. 

In October General McClellan ordered a portion 
of our forces to cross the Potomac in the direction of 
a town called Leesburg. There was a brigade of 
Rebels in this place, and the General wished to make 
a movement which would compel them to leave it. 

On the Virginia side the bank of the, river opposite 
Harrison's Island is very steep and about eighty feet 
high, and is called Ball's Bluff. Our troops were met 
at this place by the enemy in great force, and repulsed 
with heavy loss. The men fought bravely; but the 
enemy outnumbered them, and they were not rein- 
forced as they should have been. The people were 
very much provoked at this disaster, because they 
thought the affair w^as badly managed, and the lives 
of our brave soldiers needlessly sacrificed. Soon after 
this General McClellan was called upon to assume 
still higher duties. 

On the last day of October General Scott, who was 



McCIcIian appointed Gcneral-in- Chief. 179 

very infirm and too old to take the field in person, 
resigned his position. The Government were very 
sorry to part with the services of so valuable and dis- 
tinguished a man ; but they knew he was too feeble 
to bear such an amount of care as must rest upon the 
General-in-Chief in such disastrous times : they were 
obliged, therefore, to accept his resignation. The 
President, however, thought the brave old General, 
who had rendered such important aid to his country, 
ought to retire with the highest honors that could be 
shown him. So he and his Cabinet waited upon 
General Scott in person, and expressed the deepest 
regret that the country must part with him. The 
President also issued an order that the General's pay, 
subsistence, and allowances should continue without 
reduction. 

General McClellan was now appointed General-in- 
Chief of the armies of the United States, but he also 
retained personal command of the Army of the Poto- 
mac. The weather was fine during all this autumn, 
and the President and the people and the soldiers 
were alike impatient for a movement of this army ; 
but for some reason or other, McClellan thought it 
was not best to move. Toward the latter part of 
December, however, a sharp action occurred at a 
little village called Dranesville. There was a quan- 
tity of forage at this place, which McClellan wished 
to secure. 



i8o T]ic CJiildrciis Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

Accordingly General Ord was despatched with a 
brigade and a large number of wagons to gather it. 
The Rebel General Stuart was bound for the same 
place on the same errand. A short but very spirited 
contest took place between the two armies, in which 
General Ord was successful ; he returned at night to 
his camp, with forty loads of forage. After this the 
Army of the Potomac went into winter quarters. 

The people were very much dissatisfied that no 
advance had been made upon the enemy all that 
glorious autumn. Our army was known to be far 
superior in number to the Rebel army, and yet the 
enem}^ was allowed to come nearer and nearer to 
Washington. Many persons blamed the President 
and his Cabinet, and thought they purposely hindered 
McClellan. But this was a great mistake. The Pres- 
ident was more anxious for a movement than any 
one else, and did all he could to assist McClellan. 
In the mean time our forces in other parts of the 
country had not been idle; and at length, after a 
series of combined movements, the Rebels were 
driven out of Western Virginia, Kentucky, and 
Missouri. On the 3d of December our forces took 
possession of Ship Island. 

The Rebels all this time had been as busy as bees, 
strengthening themselves in every way they could 
think of. Their pirates had infested our seas, and 



Captain Wilkes and the '' Trent T 



8i 



destroyed a large number of our merchant-vessels. 
Their so-called Congress had met at Richmond, and 
passed acts to raise a large amount of money, and to 
empower Jefferson Davis to accept a great number 
of volunteers. It was impossible to find out much 
about the Rebels, but enough was known to render 
it certain that they intended to make a very deter- 
mined resistance. They appointed commissioners to 
several European nations, asking those powders to 
recognize them as belonging to the family of nations, 
and to make treaties of amity and commerce with 
them. :\Iessrs. J. M. Mason and John Slidell were 
sent as commissioners to France and England. 

These gentlemen had succeeded in getting to Ha- 
vana in a steamer which had run the blockade at 
Charleston. Upon their arriving at Havana, the 
British mail-steamer ''Trent," bound for St. Thomas, 
took them on board; from thence they were to 
proceed to Europe. Captain Wilkes of the United 
States frigate " San Jacinto," who was sailing about 
in these waters in search of Confederate cruisers, came 
up with the ''Trent" the next day, and firing a shot 
across her bovvs, hailed her, and told her he washed 
to send a boat on board. So Captain Wilkes sent 
his lieutenant on board the "Trent," who, by the 
Captain's order, demanded to see the passenger-list. 
This request the captain of the "Trent" refused to 



1 82 The CJiildrcii' s Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

grant. The lieutenant, however, soon found out to 
a certainty that Messrs. J. M. Mason and John Slidell, 
with their secretaries, were on board the '* Trent," 
and he told these gentlemen they must leave their 
present quarters, and go with him on board the " San 
Jacinto." This they all stoutly refused to do, but 
were at length compelled to obey the order of Captain 
Wilkes. 

After the removal of the commissioners, the 
" Trent " was allowed to proceed on her voyage ; 
but these gentlemen, with their secretaries, were 
brought to the United States, and placed for safe- 
keeping in Fort Warren. Everybody in the United 
States admired the boldness and courage of Captain 
Wilkes in capturing these Rebel emissaries, and the 
Secretary of the Navy sent him a complimentary 
letter. 

But it was thought that in some respects the affair 
was not quite legal, and England was so very angry 
that many persons feared it would be the cause of a 
war. England sent us word that the only redress 
which would satisfy her would be that the United 
States should make her a suitable apology, and im- 
mediately liberate these four gentlemen and place 
them under British protection. The people thought 
our Government would not do this ; but Mr. Lincoln 
said one war at a time was plenty. So he directed 



War with England Avoided. 183 

Air. Seward to say to England that the Government 
of the United States would cheerfully liberate these 
four persons, because Captain Wilkes had acted upon 
his own responsibility in capturing them, instead of 
sending them before a legal tribunal, where they 
could have a trial. 

Thus, by the wise forbearance of the President, we 
were saved from war with England; and England 
herself was so pleased at this action of our Govern- 
ment that she did not recognize the Southern 
Confederacy. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The President's Order. — Yorktown. — Williamsburg. — Advance 
of the Army. — McClellan's Retreat to James River. — Pope 
succeeds McClellan. — McClellan succeeds Pope. — South 
Mountain. — A^ntietam. — Burnside succeeds McClellan. — 
Union Successes in the West. — Capture of New Orleans. 
— Report by Congress on the Conduct of the War. 




HAVE thus endeavored, children., to relate 
to you the principal events of the year 
1 86 1. Now we will glance briefly at the 
most important military events of 1862. 
You have seen that the greater part of 1861 was 
spent by both sides in getting ready to carry on a 
tremendous war. The Rebels were determined to 
beat. They meant to have their own way. We, on 
the other hand, were as much determined that they 
should not beat, — that this glorious country should 
never go to ruin. Therefore, when the Northern 
people had been so generous and offered the Gov- 
ernment everything it wanted to prosecute the war, 
men and money without stint, they expected our 
soldiers would begin immediately to fight the Rebels 
in good earnest, and end the war as soon as possible. 



TJic Army of the Potomac. 185 

Perhaps the people were too impatient, and did not 
understand so well as the General-in-Chief what was 
proper to be done. You will recollect how disap- 
pointed they were that there was no movement of 
the Army of the Potomac during the autumn of 
1 86 1. There was a great deal else to be done in 
various other parts of the country; but everybody 
thought the main contest must be between our Army 
of the Potomac and the Rebel army in Virginia. We 
wanted to take their capital, Richmond, and they 
wanted to take our capital, Washington. We had 
fortified Washington, and the Rebels had fortified 
Richmond; but our army was larger, better equipped, 
and better {^d, and we wanted it to push forward and 
make a grand descent upon Richmond. 

It seemed to those who stayed at home that this 
might be done, or, at all events, that an attempt 
to do it should be made. The President was very 
impatient, indeed, that the contest should begin; so 
lie selected the 226. of February, Washington's Birth- 
day, as the time for a general movement of all the 
Union armies against the enemy. Th-e President, by 
virtue of his position, was commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy, and he had a right to give any order 
he chose. But besides issuing this general order to 
all the land and naval forces, he sent a special order 
to General McClellan, telling him that after providing 



1 86 The Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

for the safety of Washington he should form the re- 
mainder of the Army of the Potomac into an expedi- 
tion to seize and occupy a place on the railroad 
southwest of Manassas Junction. The Rebels had 
a large army in front of Washington, and the Presi- 
dent thought that by thus making a flank attack our 
army could defeat it, and rush upon Richmond, and 
so break the main strength of the Rebellion. 

General McClellan did not approve of the President's 
plan at all, and proposed an entirely different one, to 
which Mr. Lincoln at length consented. But before 
anything could be done about carrying it into opera- 
tion, the enemy marched away from Manassas of 
their own accord. McClellan now proposed a new 
plan of operations, to which the President gave his 
consent, with the provision that Washington must be 
left secure, and a sufficient force left at Manassas to 
prevent the enemy from retaking it. He then begged 
McClellan to move the remainder of his army imme- 
diately in pursuit of the enemy by sonic route. 

The President was much pained that our army had 
waited so long with the enemy right in front ot it at 
Manassas, and also much m.ortified that the Rebels 
had got safely off, not only without being attacked, 
but without their plans being even suspected. He 
thought, therefore, that it was high time to do some- 
thing, and begged General McClellan not to delay. 



Siege of Yorktown. 187 

The General now proceeded to Fortress Monroe 
with the main body of his army, and advanced upon 
Yorktown. This place had been strongly" fortified, 
and was held by the Rebel General Alagruder, with 
a force of about eleven thousand men. McClellan, 
however, supposed there was a much larger Rebel 
force, and so, instead of making a direct attack, com- 
menced preparations for a siege ; in the mean time 
the Rebels were gradually concentrating at Rich- 
mond. After the siege of Yorktown had continued 
a month, it was discovered one morning that the 
enemy were missing. IMcClellan immediately pur- 
sued them, and came up with them the next day at 
Williamsburg, where a sharp action occurred, in which 
our army was victorious; and the Rebels fled for 
Richmond. 

On the 9th of May the enemy evacuated Norfolk, 
and the next day General Wool took possession of 
the city. The Rebels now blew up their famous iron- 
clad " Merrimac," which had done a great deal of 
mischief, and had held all our naval force at Fortress 
Monroe in check. Our gunboats now tried to open 
the navigation of the James River; but when they 
had arrived within eight miles of Richmond, a battery 
opened fire upon them at Drury's Bluft", and they 
could go no farther. 
McClellan gradually pushed his army up the penin- 



1 88 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 



sula, and by the 20th of May the main body had 
reached the Chickahominy, which is a small muddy 
river from six to sixteen miles distant from Rich- 
mond. On either side of the 
stream are forests and marshy 
lands, which, when the river 
overflows its banks, become 
5f, \ w/ \\\].f^ impassable swamps. The 

i^ ^ fi! \\\il Rebels had entrenched them- 
selves, for the defence of 
Richmond, behind this 
swampy stream. It was ne- 
cessary to build bridges and 
roads, to enable our army to 
cross the river and swamps. 
The ground was so marshy 
that the men were obliged to 
work up to their waists in 
water; and many became ill 
and died from the exposure. 
But the brave fellows never 
shrunk from any duty; and 
six bridges and many miles 
In the mean time battles were 
fought at Hanover Court House and Fair Oaks, 
both of which proved Union victories. 

McClellan at length became convinced that he 




A VOLUNTEER. 



of road were built. 



Battle of Ant let am. 189 

could not hold his position, and resolved to retreat 
to James River. On the afternoon of the 26th of 
June the enemy attacked our forces at ]\Iechanics- 
ville, which was the beginning of a most terrific 
contest of seven days. All this time our forces were 
retreating; they arrived finally at James River, and 
fell back to Harrison's Landing. 

On the 8th of July President Lincoln reviewed the 
troops at this place, and held a long consultation 
with General McClellan in regard to what should be 
done next. General McClellan was at length placed 
in command of the troops for the defence of Wash- 
ington, and General Pope assumed command of the 
Army of the Potomac. After a severe campaign 
Pope was relieved, at his own request, and McClellan 
was reappointed to the command of the Army of 
the Potomac. 

In the month of September it was found that Lee 
was invading Maryland. McClellan marched imme- 
diately to attack him, and on the 14th of that month 
the battle of South Mountain was fought, which 
proved a Union victory. Three days after occurred 
the battle of Antietam, in which the Rebels were en- 
tirely defeated ; but no pursuit was made, and they 
were allowed quietly to recross the Potomac. 

On the 1st of October the President again visited 
the army, to learn for himself its strength and posi- 



1 90 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

tion. On the 6th instant he sent a peremptory order 
to McClellan to cross the Potomac and give battle to 
the enemy or drive him south. The President said 
to him : " You mnst move nozv, while the roads are 
good." This order was not obeyed for nearly a 
month, McClellan alleging various reasons for the 
delay. 

During this time many communications passed 
between the President and the General, and the Pres- 
ident tried with all his might to remove all the diffi- 
culties which McClellan said prevented him from 
moving. In the mean time the Rebel General Stuart 
made a raid into Pennsylvania with a force of about 
twenty-five hundred cavalry, and after helping him- 
self to clothing, horses, and other supplies, and burn- 
ing up the railroad-station, returned, having ridden 
completely around our army without being molested. 

Finally, on the 5th of November, McClellan sent 
word to the President that he had crossed his army 
into Virginia. But before this the people had be- 
come so impatient that something should be done, 
and the President himself was so perplexed at Mc- 
Clellan's delays, that he had determined to remove 
him, and place somebody else in command of the 
Army of the Potomac. So it happened that on the 
same day on which McClellan sent his despatch to 
the President an order was issued, relieving the Gen- 



Burn side succeeds McClellaii. 191 

eral from command, and appointing General Burnside 
as his successor. 

This closed McClellan's connection with the war. 
I have here noticed very briefly, children, some of 
the principal events of his campaign. You will read 
in other books full and interesting accounts of his 
entire career; but in so small a work as this only a 
small space can be given to any general. IMcClellan 
was very unfortunate, and some persons have said 
that his failures were owing to President Lincoln's 
failure to sustain him. But whoever will take the 
trouble to read the official papers on both sides will 
see that this is an unjust accusation. The Presi- 
dent not only sustained him to the utmost of his 
ability, but kept him in command a long time after 
he was urged in the strongest manner to remove him. 
He also tried, in the fulness of his generous heart, to 
shield McClellan from blame, when the public voice 
was loud against him after his retreat to James River. 
At a war-meeting in Washington the President said : 

" I know General McClellan wishes to be successful, and 
I know he does not wish it any more than the Secretary of 
War for him ; and both of them together no more than I wish 
it. General McClellan has sometimes asked for things that 
the Secretary of War did not give him. General McClellan 
is not to blame for asking what he wanted and needed, and 
the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving when he 



192 TJie CJiildrcii s Life of Abraham Lincohi. 

had none to give. And I say here, as far as I know, the 
Secretary of ^^^ar has withheld no one thing at any time in 
my power to give him. I has^^e no accusation against him. 
I beheve he is a brave and able man, and I stand here, as 
justice requires me to do, to take upon myself what has been 
charged on the Secretary of War as withholding from him." 

This was the President's noble disposition. He 
was always more ready to take all blame upon him- 
self than to allow it to rest upon others. 

On the 13th of December an unsuccessful battle 
was fought by the Army of the Potomac, under 
General Burnside. 

We will now return to the beginning of the year 
1862, and see what was accomplished by the Union 
army in other portions of the country. To enable 
you to understand w'hat I am about to relate, we 
must go back a little into the year 1861. If you \\\\\ 
take some good map and look out all the places that 
are mentioned, you will have a much better idea of 
what was done. 

The Rebels held control of a great portion of the 
Mississippi River, and the President thought one of 
the most important things to be done was to take it 
from them. A base of operations was established at 
Cairo, Illinois, at which place the Ohio River unites 
with the Mississippi. General Grant was in com- 
mand here, and a big fleet of gun and mortar boats 



General Grant in the West. 193 

was in preparation. For several months after the 
war began, Kentucky called herself neutral, and said 
she would have nothing to do with the contest in any 
way; but in the early part of September, 1861, 
Bishop Polk, who was then a Rebel general, marched 
into Kentucky, and took possession of Columbus and 
Hickman, on the Mississippi. The Rebels now held 
all the Mississippi below these places to its very 
mouth. Polk began to fortify these points, when 
Grant immediately marched into Kentucky and took 
possession of Paducah. 

Soon after, the Rebel General ZoUicoffer marched 
into the southeastern part of the State, and the Rebel 
General Buckner took possession of Bowling Green. 
This was a very important strategic point, as it was 
a place of great natural strength, and also at the 
junction of the railroads from Memphis and Nashville 
to Louisville. These positions which the Rebels had 
taken formed a part of a line of posts reaching from 
the Mississippi River to Cumberland Gap. The most 
important military positions on this line were Colum- 
bus on the Mississippi, Fort Henry on the Tennessee, 
Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, Bowling Green, 
and Mill Spring. We are now prepared to under- 
stand what took place in this part of the country in 
the year 1862. 

On the 19th of January General Thomas gained a 
13 



194 TJie Children' s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

decided victory at Mill Spring; the Rebels were put 
to flight, and ZoUicoffer was killed. On the 6th of 
February Captain Foote, with a fleet of gunboats, 
captured Fort Henry. Buckner now thought it 
would not be safe for him to remain at Bowling 
Green ; so he proceeded with all his troops to Fort 
Donelson. But Grant was after him, and the fort was 
captured, together with Buckner himself and sixteen 
thousand men. Columbus was soon after evacuated, 
and also Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. 

The Legislature fled from Nashville to Memphis ; 
and Andrew Johnson, who was then a Senator, was 
appointed by President Lincoln Military Governor 
of the State. After Columbus and Nashville had 
been abandoned, the Rebels took up some very 
stron^:^ positions on the Mississippi, at New Madrid 
and Island Number Ten ; they also fortified themselves 
at Corinth. General Pope took New Madrid from 
them on the 14th of March, and immediately after 
Flag-Oflicer Foote, with a fleet of gunboats, attacked 
Island Number Ten. This position was very strong, 
however, and held out for more than three weeks ; 
but at length it surrendered. 

In the mean time Grant was pushing for Corinth. 
On the 6th of April his advance-guard was attacked 
at Shiloh, near Pittsburg Landing, and a most terrific 
fight occurred, which lasted for two days. The 



Admiral Farrantt takes New Orleans. 195 



Rebels were badly whipped, and fled for Corinth. 
This was a very strong position, and they remained 
there until the 30th of May; then they retreated, and 
General Pope went in pursuit. After Island Number 
Ten was captured, the Rebels made a stand at Fort 
Wright, which is about fifty miles above Memphis. 
Our gunboats soon attacked this place, and the fort 
was abandoned on the 4th of June. Two days later 
Memphis surrendered. Thus, you see, we had taken 
quite a large portion of the upper part of the 
Mississippi. 

But this was not all of the Mississippi that had 
been gained. Still more important victories had 
been won down at its very mouth. The river was 
commanded, below the city of New Orleans, by two 
very strong forts, one on each side, called Fort Jack- 
son and Fort St. Philip. Between these two forts 
a chain had been thrown across the river. On the 
i6th of xApril Commodore Farragut, with an immense 
fleet of gunships and mortar-boats, moved up the 
river for the capture of New Orleans. 

It was a most diflicult and perilous undertaking, 
but the Commodore did not shrink. He bombarded 
the forts, broke the heavy iron chain, ran past the 
Rebel batteries, destroyed the enemy's rams and 
gunboats, and in seven days had captured the city, 
which he occupied on the 25th instant. 



196 The Children's Life of AbraJiam Lincoln. 

While all these things were going on, General 
Burnside had been doing great things in still another 
part of the country. A combined military and naval 
expedition, commonly called the '* Burnside Expedi- 
tion," sailed from Hampton Roads on the 12th of 
January, under the command of General Burnside 
and Flag-Officer Goldsborough, for the capture of 
Roanoke Island. A terrible tempest dela}'ed the 
fleet, but at length, on the 7th of February, the 
strong intrenchments of Roanoke Island were stormed 
and the forts captured. Many Rebels were taken 
prisoners. On the next day our vessels sailed up 
the sound to Elizabeth City, destroyed the enemy's 
gunboats, and took possession of several towns. On 
the 14th of March General Burnside followed up his 
successes by fighting the battle of Newbern, captur- 
ing the city, and gaining a very important victory. 

Du Pont was also doing his part by capturing the 
principal seaports of Florida ; he also took Fort 
Pulaski, on the river Savannah. In March General 
Curtis gained a splendid victory at Pea Ridge, Ar- 
kansas. In the first part of October a very severe 
battle was fought near Corinth, which the Rebels 
attempted to retake ; but they were driven back with 
great loss by our forces, under General Rosecrans. 

At the close of the year a committee of Congress- 
men, appointed to report concerning the conduct of 



Close of the Year i86: 



197 



the war, said that during the autumn of 1861 and the 
winter and spring of 1862 the Union troops had been 
for the most part successful, except the Army of the 
Potomac ; and that if the success of that army had 
been as great as other branches of our forces, the 
Rebelhon would have been well-nigh if not entirely 
overthrown by the end of the year 1862. 










HE DIED FOR US. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The President's Position in regard to Slavery. — Meeting of Con- 
gress. — Confiscation Bill. — The Border States, — Slavery 
in the Territories and District of Columbia abolished. — 
Emancipation Proclamation. — Confederate Cruisers. — 
Action of Mr. Adams. 



HIS is all the space that 
we can devote to the 
military events of 1 862. 
Now we shall see what 
else the President did 
to bring back peace 
and harmony to the 
country. 

You will remember 
that before the war act- 
ually broke out the leaders of the Rebellion had done 
their utmost to inflame the minds of the Southern 
people against President Lincoln, telling them that he 
intended to rob them of their slaves and deprive them 
of all their lawful riehts under the Constitution. 




The President and Slavery. 199 

After the war commenced, these reports were circu- 
lated more vigorously than ever. The South was 
told that the whole object of the war, on the part 
of the President and the North, was not, as w'as pre- 
tended, for the preservation of the Union and the 
Constitution, but for the emancipation of the slaves. 
Jefferson Davis and other leaders of the Rebellion 
had told this story over and over again, coloring it 
with the greatest ingenuity, in order to madden the 
Southern people, and to induce the slave-holding 
States which had not yet seceded to go over to 
their side. 

On the other hand. President Lincoln assured the 
South, as soon as he assumed the government, that 
he had no intention of interfering with slavery where 
it already existed, and that he believed he had no 
lawful right to do such a thing. In the early part 
of the war he still adhered to this position. He in- 
tended that the whole nation, South as well as North, 
should see that he meant what he said ; that the 
whole object of the war was to put down an armed 
rebellion ; and that as soon as the Rebels w^ere will- 
ing to lay down their arms and obey the laws of the 
land, the war would no longer exist. The slave States 
which had not yet joined the rebellion, and which 
were called the border States, could not help seeing 
that the President was sincere ; so instead of seced- 



200 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

ing, they waited to see what he would do, and finally 
sent a great many Union soldiers into the field. 

At first fugitive slaves were not allowed to come 
within the lines of our armies ; but when this could 
no longer be prevented, the Government proclaimed 
that whenever it employed the slaves, all loyal mas- 
ters should be paid for their services. Distinguished 
generals also proclaimed, in various parts of the coun- 
try, that not only would they refrain from interfering 
with slaves, but if any insurrection should arise 
among them, the Union army would, with an iron 
hand, assist to crush it. President Lincoln thought 
that by being thus forbearing and patient with the 
South, reason would after a time get the better of her 
passions, and she would see her mad folly in its true 
light, and come back into the Union. 

But all this kindness of the President did not 
appear to have any good effect upon the Rebels. 
They not only fought harder than ever against their 
country, but tried to make England and France be- 
lieve that the President was in favor of slavery. The 
President's course, however, no doubt prevented the 
border States from joining the Rebellion, and thus 
it was a very wise course ; for if all the slave States 
had seceded, probably the country must have been 
ruined. 

The President pursued this mild plan toward the 



The •' Confiscation Bill!' 201 

Rebels all through the first year of the war and part 
of the second ; but by and by, when he saw how 
more and more determined the Rebels were, he be- 
gan to think the good of the whole country demanded 
that more vigorous measures should be undertaken. 
It was well known everywhere that the slaves were 
of great assistance to the Rebels. They cultivated the 
plantations while their masters were gone to the war. 
Many of them were also at work digging trenches and 
building fortifications, thus giving the South many 
more soldiers than she would have had if white men 
had been obliged to do all this work. 

Congress met as usual in December, the last month 
of the year 1861, and all through the winter of 1861 
and 1862 held a great many discussions upon the 
growing resistance of the Rebels. Various measures 
were proposed to weaken their power. At length a 
very important bill was passed called the *' Confisca- 
tion Bill." This bill gave the Rebels to understand 
that if they persisted in rebellion, their property 
would be seized for the benefit of the United States, 
and their slaves would be freed. It also gave the 
President power to employ as many persons of Afri- 
can descent as he might think proper, to aid in 
suppressing the Rebellion. 

There had been an active and influential party 
at the North which, ever since the contest began, had 



202 The Children's Life of Abrahmn Lincoln. 

loudly asserted that slavery was the whole cause of 
the Rebellion, and that the only way to end the w^ar 
was to crush slavery. As soon as this bill was 
passed, the President was beset by delegation after 
delegation, begging him immediately to emancipate 
every slave in the land, to arm these slaves and place 
them in the Union ranks, and so end the war at once. 
Many persons called him slow, and accused him of 
being very remiss in his duty because he did not 
pursue this course. 

But the President never did anything rashly. No- 
body could coax or threaten him into doing anything, 
until he saw it clearly to be his duty. He felt that he 
was President of the whole United States, of the 
South as well as the North, and like a wise father 
of a family determined that every member of it 
should be treated fairly and justly, however bad and 
rebellious he might be. And so, instead of being vio- 
lent and harsh, and declaring right off, without a mo- 
ment's warning, that all the slaves should be free, he 
first reasoned in the kindest and calmest manner with 
the slave-holders. He told them their own good 
sense should teach them that if the war continued, 
their slaves must become free ; and rather than have 
the war continue, he was willing to buy their slaves, 
paying a fair price for them. He sent a resolution 
to Congress to the same effect 



Proposition to buy the Slaves. 203 

The President thought that if Congress would 
make such an offer, perhaps the border States, which 
had not yet joined the RebeUion, might accept it. 
He thought it was a fair offer for both sides; for 
if the war continued, all the slaves must after a time 
become free, and those slave-holders who had not 
joined in the Rebellion ought to be paid for their 
slaves. 

On the other hand, he told Congress it would not 
cost so much to buy the slaves as it would to con- 
tinue the war ; so the proposition would be as much 
for the advantage of one part of the country as of the 
other. The President's idea was that if all the border 
States should free their slaves, then the Rebel States 
would see that it was perfectly certain that they 
would never join them, and so the Rebels would be- 
come discouraged and give over the contest. Con- 
gress was pleased with the President's resolution, and 
adopted it; and almost all the loyal people approved 
of it too. 

The President was determined that the slave- 
holders should have a fair opportunity to accept 
this offer before anything more decided should be 
done. He felt very anxious indeed that they should 
accept it, so much so that just before Congress ad- 
journed he invited all the Senators and Representa- 
tives who were present from the slave-holding States 



204 TJlc Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

to come and see him at the White House, where he 
could talk to them by themselves. He urged these 
Congressmen, in the kindest and most earnest man- 
ner, upon their return home, to try to persuade the 
people of their respective States to accept this offer. 
His whole address to them was very fine. The fol- 
lowing is one sentence of it: — 

" How much better for you as seller and the nation as 
buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the war 
could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be 
sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats ! " 

The Congressmen listened to all the President said, 
and some of them agreed with him; but the greater 
part of them did not. They thought no excuse could 
be strong enough to warrant meddling with slavery. 
So the time came for Congress to adjourn, and all 
the Congressmen went home. But while it remained 
in session, two very important things were done about 
slavery, of which I have not yet told you. A bill was 
passed declaring that slavery should never exist in 
any of the Territories of the United States, and 
slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia. 

You will remember, children, that this was one of 
the things Mr. Lincoln voted for the first time he 
took his seat in Congress ; and now, when he was 
President, he had the satisfaction of seeing it accom- 
plished. 



Emancipation decided upon. 205 

Congress had no sooner adjourned than the Presi- 
dent was assailed harder than ever on all sides, by 
private letters, by the public press, and by delega- 
tions, begging him to emancipate the slaves. 

In reply to all this, the President said his para- 
mount object was to save tJie Union, and not either 
to save or to destroy slavery. He said : ** If I could 
save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do 
it ; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would 
do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leav- 
ing others alone, I would also do that." This was the 
President's first, great, and only object in all that he 
did and in all that he left undone throughout the 
war, — to '' save the Union'' If the Union were de- 
stroyed, all was lost; if that could be saved, every- 
thing else was of small consequence compared with it. 

At last, after the most earnest prayers to God for 
direction, and the most calm and careful deliberation 
of the whole subject, the President made up his mind 
that in order to save the Union he must do that 
which the world now recognizes was the crowning 
glory of his life. On the 22d of September he issued 
his proclamation, to take effect on the ist of January, 
1863, freeing the slaves of all persons in Rebellion 
against the United States. By this act he placed his 
name at the head of all great names, down to the end 
of time. He had been battling all his Hfe for the 



2o6 The Childreji's Life of AbraJiam Lincoln, 

freedom of all men, and as a reward for his simple- 
hearted fidelity God placed him in that grand, sublime 
position where by a stivke of his pen he freed a wJwle 
race for all tijne to come. The greatest despot never 
wielded such power as God gave to our Republican 
President. The following is the most important part 
of the Proclamation of Emancipation: — 

" I, x-\braham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
America and Commander-in-chief of the army and navy 
thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as 
heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of prac- 
tically restoring the constitutional relation between the United 
States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which 
States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. 

"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Con- 
gress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical 
measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or 
rejection of all slave States so-called, the people whereof 
may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and 
which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or there- 
after may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolish- 
ment of slavery within their respective limits ; and that the 
effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their con- 
sent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously 
obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be 
continued. 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held 







PRESIDENT LINCOLN SIGNING THE EMANCIPATION 
PROCLAMATION. 



The Ejuancipation Proclamation, 209 

as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the 
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; 
and the Executive Government of the United States, includ- 
ing the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize 
and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no 
act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any 
efforts they may make for their actual freedom." 

This proclamation created a great excitement, not 
only all over this country but, we may say^ all over 
the world. All the President's enemies and all friends 
of the Rebels said it was now plainly to be seen that 
what they had always declared was true, — that the 
whole object of the war was to oppress the Southern 
people and emancipate the slaves. But nearly all 
the loyal people regarded it as a necessary war 
measure, and the very best one the President could 
have taken to weaken the Rebellion. The first day 
of January following, the President issued another 
proclamation confirming this, and designating what 
portions of the country were then in rebellion. 
Some other important items were added, and the 
proclamation closed with these solemn words : — 

" And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of 
justice, warranted by the Constitution upon mihtary neces- 
sity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the 
gracious favor of Almighty God."' 

14 



210 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

The President had another trouble in the year 
1862. You will remember that he had told foreign 
nations, from the beginning of the war, that they 
must not encourage the Rebels to persist in rebel- 
lion. England and France pretended to be neutral, 
and to respect what the President said ; but for all 
that, the Rebels received a great deal of help from 
them. One of the most annoying things these na- 
tions did was to allow vessels to be built, manned, 
and equipped in their ports for the service of the 
Rebels. These ships were built by private individ- 
uals, and matters were so arranged that the Govern- 
ments managed to shirk all blame. 

At last things came to such a pass, and our com- 
merce was destroyed to such an extent, that our min- 
ister to England, Mr. Adams, spoke to the British 
authorities about it. He told Lord Russell that a 
vessel was at that very moment on the stocks in 
a Liverpool ship-yard, which was certainly intended 
for the Rebels. The English lord told Mr. Adams 
that he was never more mistaken in his life ; that the 
ship he spoke of was to be sent to Sicily. Mr. 
Adams knew better, but he could not convince the 
earl that there was anything wrong about the ship ; 
so she sailed. But the next time she was heard from 
she had arrived at Nassau, and a noted pirate had 
taken command of her. 



The '^Alabama!' 21 



Probably all of you have heard of the famous Con- 
federate cruiser, the " x-\labama." Well, she was 
built in the ship-yard of a member of the English 
House of Commons, and allowed to sail, although 
our minister protested against it. She was called the 
"290" at first. She stole quietly out of port, went 
to the Azores, took on board her armament, and 
began her career as a Confederate cruiser, com- 
manded by the notorious Captain Semmes. This 
was more than the President could stand ; he sent 
word to England that she would be expected to pay 
for all the damage which the *' Alabama '' inflicted 
on our commerce. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Hooker succeeds Burnside. — Fredericksburg. — Meade suc- 
ceeds Hooker. — Gettysburg. — Vicksburg. — Port Hud- 
son. — Dedication of the Battlefield of Gettysburg. — The 
President's Thanksgiving Proclamation. 



E have now come to the beginning of the 
year 1863. Let us return to the war for a 
little time, and see how it progressed 
during that period. 




General Burnside now commanded the Army of 
the Potomac ; but he was relieved on the 24th of Jan- 
uary, and General Hooker was his successor. The 
season was too far advanced for active operations ; so 
the army went into winter quarters and was inactive 
until the following April. On the twenty-seventh day 
of that month General Hooker began to make prepa- 
rations to fight. Our army was north of the Rappa- 
hannock, the Rebels south of it and in the vicinity of 
Fredericksburg. 

Hooker wished to take Fredericksburg. He in- 
tended to attack the enemy in flank and rear. For 



Battle of Fredericksburg. 2 1 3 



this purpose he sent out a strong cavalry force under 
General Stoneman, to cut the railroads in the rear 
of the Rebels, to prevent their being reinforced from 
Richmond. He also sent three divisions of his army 
to Kelley's Ford, which is about twenty-five miles 
above Fredericksburg. The army crossed the river, 
and marched south as far as Chancellorsville. One 
division was left opposite Fredericksburg, under the 
command of General Sedgwick. The others crossed 
the river, and joined the main body at Chancellors- 
ville. 

On the second day of May General Jackson, who 
commanded the left wing of the Rebel army, at- 
tacked our forces on the right, and for a while gained 
a decided advantage. Before the day was out, how- 
ever, our men had regained their position. The next 
day the battle was continued, and the enemy got the 
best of it. In the mean time Sedgwick had crossed 
the river and gained the heights of Fredericksburg, 
but could not hold them, and was compelled to 
retreat. 

During the night of May 5th Hooker recrossed the 
river, to his old position, having lost about eighteen 
thousand men. Both armies now remained quiet 
until the 9th of June, when it was discovered that 
Lee was leaving Fredericksburg for the Shenandoah 
valley. 



214 ^^^^ Children's Life of Abraham Lineoln. 

On the 13th the Rebel General Ewell completely 
routed our advance post under General Milroy, and 
on the next day the Rebels were crossing the Poto- 
mac into Maryland. It was feared that they intended 
to invade Pennsylvania. They had always declared 
they would yet push the war into the North, and it 
looked now as if they were intending to make good 
their threap. The whole North was very much ex- 
cited. The President immediately called upon the 
States which were in most danger to send a hundred 
thousand men to serve for six months, and he asked 
New York for twenty thousand. 

By the 27th the whole Rebel army had crossed the 
Potomac, and Lee had taken up his headquarters at 
Hagerstown. As soon as Hooker had discovered 
that the Rebels were leaving Fredericksburg, he had 
broken camp and pursued them ; so that on the day 
the Rebels reached Hagerstown, our army was at 
Frederick City. Our forces were thus between the 
Rebels and Baltimore and Washington, shielding 
those cities from attack, while they were also pre- 
pared to pursue the enemy into Pennsylvania. Gen- 
eral Hooker was now relieved from his command, 
and General Meade was his successor. 

The enemy was pushing for Harrisburg, Pennsyl- 
vania; and Meade immediately started in pursuit. 
Generals Reynolds and Howard, commanding our 



Battle of Gettysburg. 2 1 5 



advance corps, came up with the Rebels on the first 
day of July, near the town of Gettysburg. An attack 
was made; but the Rebels so far outnumbered us that 
General Howard was obliged to fall back to Ceme- 
tery Hill and wait for reinforcements. During the 
night and the following day our forces concentrated 

around this point. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon the Rebels 
commenced a most terrific attack upon us, which 
lasted until sunset, when they were forced to retire in 
confusion. In the evening they made a fresh attack, 
but were again driven back. The next morning they 
began it again, with no better success The figh 
continued nearly all day, and resulted in the d fea 
of the enemy. The next morning it was thought the 
Rebels were about to attack again, but the mormng 
after it was discovered that they were in full retreat. 
The Sixth Corps and a body of cavalry were sent m 

^"After burying the dead and taking care of the 
wounded. General Meade, having learned the position 
of the Rebels, decided to pursue them by a flank 
movement;andverysoonhiswholearmywer « 

.... for the Potomac. ^^ '^'^if'^ ."' ^^^i 
came up with the Rebels, who h^d gained th h^ h 
lands in front of Williamsport. Preparations wee 
lade to attack them; but the Rebels succeeded m 



2i6 TJic Childrcii s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

escaping to the Rapidan, and our army took up its 
old position on the Rappahannock. 

This victory at Gettysburg was regarded as one 
of the most important of the war ; but it was a very 
bloody one. At a fearful cost of life the Rebels had 
been driven out of Pennsylv^ania, Maryland, and the 
upper part of the Shenandoah valley. They did not 
find it so easy a matter to push the war into the 
North as they had anticipated. President Lincoln 
was so gratified at our success that on the morning 
of the 4th of July he sent the following despatch to 
us all from the White House : — 

" The President announces to the country that news from 
the Army of the Potomac up to ten p. i\i. of the 3d is such 
as to cover that army with the highest honor, to promise a 
great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the 
condolence of all for the many gallant fallen ; and that for 
this he especially desires on this day, He, whose will, not 
ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and 
reverenced with profoundest gratitude. 

" A. Lincoln." 

We also had another glorious victory on this day, 
that the President did not yet know of. General Grant, 
who had been fighting on stubbornly eve since the 
war began, and who had for a long time ^n besieg- 
ing Yicksburg, the only remaining stronghold of the 
Rebels on the Mississippi, had the good fortune to 



Capture of Vicksburg. 217 



capture it, with all its garrison and war material, on 
that day. Fort Hudson was surrendered to General 
Banks four days later, and thus the zuholc Mississippi 
River was ours. This was a terrible blow to the 
Rebels ; for we had now cut their territor\' into two 
parts, and neither part was able to assist the other. 
These were the greatest military exploits of the year. 
Some time during the autumn, after the battle of 
Gettysburg, the State of Pennsylvania purchased a 
part of the battlefield adjoining the cemetery for 
a burying-place for the fallen soldiers. It was dedi- 
cated on the 19th of November. The President and 
his Cabinet were present, and the Hon. Edward 
Everett m.ade an eloquent and touching address. 
The President also spoke the following beautiful 
words : — 

" Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can 
long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final 
resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that 
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedi- 
cate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. 



2i8 The Childrcji's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. 
The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, 
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the 
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
that they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us, — that from these honored dead we 
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave 
the last full measure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve 
that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that the nation, 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that gov- 
ernment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall 
not perish from the earth." 

The success at Gettysburg and the surrender of 
Vicksburg caused the most enthusiastic rejoicing. 
Public meetings were held all over the land, at which 
cheers were given and speeches made, and all loyal 
persons declared that the war must be vigorously 
prosecuted until the Rebellion should no more exist. 

The President was serenaded, and in reply he made 
a graceful speech. These victories, with others which 
were gained in various parts of the country, encour- 
aged the President so much that he appointed the 
6th of August as a day of national thanksgiving. 
Our armies continuing to be successful during the 
autumn, the President appointed another thanksgiv- 



National Thanksgiving. 219 

ing for the last day of November. The following 
is the 

PROCLAMATION 
By the President of the United States. 

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled 
with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To 
these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are 
prone to forget the source from which they come, others 
have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that 
they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which 
is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of 
Almighty God. 

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and 
severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke 
the aggressions of foreign States, peace has been preserved 
with all nations ; order has been maintained, the laws have 
been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed 
everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict ; while 
that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing 
armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of 
wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to 
the national defence has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, 
or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settle- 
ments ; and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the pre- 
cious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than here- 
tofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the 
waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the 
battlefield ; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness 



220 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a 
continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand 
worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts 
of the jMost High God, who, while dealing with us in anger 
for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has 
seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, 
reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart 
and voice, by the whole American people. 

I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the 
United States, and also those who are at sea and those who 
are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the 
last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving 
and prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the 
heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up 
the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliver- 
ances and blessings, they do also with humble penitence for 
our national perverseness and disobedience commend to His 
tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, 
mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which 
we are unavoidably engaged ; and fervently implore the in- 
terposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the 
nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with 
the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, har- 
mony, tranquillity, and union. 







•*f- 



THANKSGIVING DAY — HOME AGAIN 




CHAPTER XXI. 

The French Emperor. — Congress. — The President's Message. 

— Arming of the Blacks. — Conscription Bill. — The Draft. 

— Riot in New York. — Vallandigham. — Rebel Rams. 

E will now return to the commencement of 
the year 1863, and see what else the Pres- 
ident had to occupy his attention. You 
already know that besides military affairs, 
foreign nations caused him a great deal of anxiety. 

Among other things he was very much afraid some 
of them would recognize the Southern Confederacy, 
as a nation. The Army of the Potomac met with so 
many reverses in the year 1862, that there was a 
great deal of talk on the other side of the water 
about the necessity for somebody to interfere, and 
put a stop to so much bloodshed. 

Finally, toward the latter part of the year, the 
French Emperor invited England and Russia to unite 
with him in an attempt to mediate between the 
United States and the Rebels. But England and 
Russia had the good sense to decline having any- 



224 The Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

thing to do in the matter, and so the benevolent 
Emperor thought he would see what he could accom- 
plish by himself. 

Accordingly, on the 9th of January, 1863, he di- 
rected his secretary to send a despatch to Washing- 
ton, in which the Emperor declared he was willing to 
do anything in his power which would help to end 
the war. He advised that instead of fighting any 
more, commissioners from both sides be appointed to 
talk the quarrel over, and see if they could not agree 
upon some terms on which it might be settled. The 
Emperor thought this would be an excellent way to 
dispose of all difficulties, and said that if we would 
adopt it he would not take the least credit to himself 
for having suggested it. 

The President sent word back to the Emperor that 
we were very much obliged for his friendly intentions, 
but for the present we were perfectly well able to 
take care of ourselves ; that we had not the most re- 
mote intention of ceasing to fight while the Rebellion 
continued ; and that if the Rebels desired to send 
commissioners to talk with us, all they had to do was 
to lay down their arms, go home, and send their 
Senators and Representatives to Congress. This 
answer silenced the French Emperor and all other 
nations about interfering with us. 

Congress met in December, 1862, and the Presi- 



The President's Message. 225 

dent sent in a very interesting Message. You will 
recollect that it was only about three months before 
this that he issued his Emancipation Proclamation ; 
and his heart is full of it, and also of his plan of im- 
mediately bu}'ing up all the slaves in the border 
States, for the purpose of ending the war. His argu- 
ment in favor of compensated emancipation is logi- 
cal, and you shall hear a portion of it. He says: 

" A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its peo- 
ple, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is 
of certain durability. ' One generation passeth away and an- 
other generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever.' It 
is of the first importance to duly consider and estimate this 
ever-enduring part. 

" That portion of the earth's surface which is owned and 
inhabited by the people of the United States is well adapted 
to the home of one national family ; and it is not well 
adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its variety 
of climate and productions are of advantage in this age for 
one people, whatever they might have been in former ages. 
Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence have brought these to be 
an advantageous combination for one united people. 

" In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total 
inadequacy of disunion as a remedy for the differences be- 
tween the people of the two sections. I did so in language 
which I cannot improve, and which, therefore, I beg to 
repeat. 

'' One section of our country believes slavery is right and 
15 



226 The Children s Life of Abraham Lineoln. 



ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong 
and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial 
dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and 
the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are 
each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a 
community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly 
supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide 
by the dry, legal obligation in both cases, and a few break 
over in each. This, I think, cannot be cured, and it would 
be worse in both cases after the separations of the sections 
than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly sup- 
pressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in 
one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surren- 
dered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. 

" There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a na- 
tional boundary upon which to divide. Trace through from 
east to west upon the line between the free and slave coun- 
try, and we shall find a little more than one third of its length 
are rivers easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be 
populated, thickly upon both sides, while nearly all its 
remaining length are merely surveyor's lines, over which 
people may walk back and forth without any consciousness 
of their presence. No part of this line can be made any 
more difficult to pass by writing it down on paper or parch- 
ment as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it 
comes, gives up on the part of the seceding section the fugi- 
tive-slave clause, along with all other constitutional obliga- 
tions upon the section seceded from, while I should expect 
no treaty stipulation would ever be made to take its place. 



The Folly of National Division. 227 



" But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, 
bounded east by the Alleghanies, north by the British domin- 
ions, west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by the Hne 
along which the culture of corn and cotton meets, and which 
includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, 
Ohio, Indiana, Alichigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kan- 
sas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Ne- 
braska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten millions 
of people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not 
prevented by any political folly or mistake. 

'• It contains more than one third of the country owned 
by the United States, — certainly more than one million of 
square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts 
already is, it would have more than seventy-five millions of 
people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speak- 
ing, it is the great body of the republic. The other parts 
are but marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping 
west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the 
deepest and also richest in undeveloped resources. In the 
production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which pro- 
ceed from them, this great interior region is naturally one of 
the most important in the world. 

'' Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the 
region which has as yet been brought into cultivation, and 
also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, 
and we shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the 
prospect presented. And yet this region has no sea-coast, 
touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one nation its peo- 
ple now find and may forever find their way to Europe by 



228 The CJiildren' s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, 
and to Asia by San Francisco. But separate our common 
country into two nations, as designed by the present Rebel- 
lion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby 
cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not perhaps 
by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade 
regulations. 

" And this is true wherever a dividing or boundary line may 
be fixed. Place it between the now free and slave country, 
or place it south of Kentucky or north of Ohio, and still the 
truth remains that none south of it can trade to any port or 
place north of it, and none north of it can trade to any port 
or place south of it, except upon terms dictated by a govern- 
ment foreign to them. These outlets east, west, and south 
are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting 
and to inhabit this vast interior region. Which of the three 
may be best is no proper question. All are better than 
either, and all of right belong to that people and to their 
successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask 
where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that 
there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal regions 
less interested in these communications to and through them 
to the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, 
must have access to this Egypt of the West, without paying 
toll at the crossing of any national boundary. 

'' Our strife springs not from our permanent part, not from 
the land we inhabit, not from our national homestead. 
There is no possible severing of this but would multiply and 
not mitigate evils among us. In all its adaptations and 



Proposition for G radical Emancipation, 229 

aptitudes it demands union and abhors separation. In fact, 
it would erelong force reunion, however much of blood and 
treasure the separation might have cost. 

''Our strife pertains to ourselves, to the passing genera- 
tions of men, and it can without convulsion be hushed 
forever with the passing of one generation." 

The President now proposes that amendments be 
made to the Constitution, which shall guarantee that 
every State which shall abolish slavery before the 
year 1900 shall be paid for every slave out of the 
public funds. But if any State, after being paid for 
her slaves, should again tolerate slavery, she must 
pay all the money back. Also, that all slaves who 
shall enjoy freedom by the chances of the war shall 
be forever free ; but all loyal owners shall be paid for 
them, only no slave must be paid for twice. Also, 
that Congress may appropriate money for the coloni- 
zation of free colored persons. 

This is the substance of what the President wanted 
to have done ; and now you shall hear his own 
reasons for desiring it : — 

*' Without slavery the Rebellion could never have existed, 
without slavery it could not continue. Among the friends 
of the Union there is a great diversity of sentiment and of 
policy in regard to slavery and the African race among us. 
Some would perpetuate slavery, some would abolish it sud- 
denly and without compensation, some would abolish it 



2 30 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

gradually and with compensation, some would remove the 
freed people from us, and some would retain them with us ; 
and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these 
diversities we waste much strength among ourselves. By 
mutual concession we should harmonize and act together. 
This would be compromise, but it would be compromise 
among the friends and not with the enemies of the Union. 

" These articles are intended to embody a plan of such 
mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is as- 
sumed that emancipation will follow in at least several of the 
States. In a certain sense the liberation of slaves is the 
destruction of property, — property acquired by descent or 
purchase, the same as any other property. 

" It is no less true for having been often said, that the 
people of the South are not more responsible for the original 
introduction of this property than are the people of the 
North ; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly we 
all use cotton and sugar, and share the profits of dealing in 
them, it may not be quite safe to say that the South has been 
more responsible than the North for its continuance. If, 
then, for a common object this property is to be sacrificed, 
is it not just that it be done at a common charge .'* 

" And if with less money, or money more easily paid, we 
can preserve the benefits of the Union by this means than 
we can by the war alone, is it not also economical to do it? 
Let us consider it, then. Let us ascertain the sum we have 
expended in the war since compensated emancipation was 
proposed last March, and consider whether, if that measure 
had been promptly accepted by even some of the slave 



TJic Economy of Gradual Emancipation. 231 

States, the same sum would not have done more to close 
the war than has been otherwise done. If so, the measure 
would save money and, in that view, would be a prudent and 
economical measure. Certainly, it is not so easy to pay 
something as it is to pay nothing ; but it is easier to pay a 
large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is easier to 
pay any sum when we are able, than it is to pay it before we 
are able. The war requires large sums and requires them 
at once. 

"The aggregate sum necessary for compensated emanci- 
pation of course would be large. But it would require no 
ready cash, nor the bonds even, any faster than the emanci- 
pation progresses. This might not, and probably would not, 
close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that time 
we shall probably have a hundred millions of people to share 
the burden, instead of thirty-one millions as now. 

" This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion 
of, but additional to, all others for restoring and preserving 
the national authority throughout the Union. The subject 
is presented exclusively in its economical aspect. The plan 
would, I am confident, secure peace more speedily, and 
maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force 
alone ; while all it would cost, considering amounts and 
manner of payment and times of payment, would be easier 
paid than will be the additional cost of the war, if we solely 
rely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would cost 
no blood at all. 

" I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a 
paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the chief 



232 TJie CJiildren's Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget tliat some of you 
are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience 
than I in the conduct of pubhc affairs. Yet I trust that in 
view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will 
perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue 
earnestness I may seem to display. 

" Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, 
would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of 
money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore 
the national authority and national prosperity, and perpetuate 
both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here — Congress 
and Executive — can secure its adoption ? ^Vill not the 
good people respond to a united and earnest appeal from 
us ? Can we, can they, by any other means so certainly or 
so speedily assure these vital objects? We can succeed 
only by concert. It is not, ' Can any of us imagine better?' 
but, ' Can we all do better? ' 

" Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, 
'Can we do better?' The dogmas of the quiet past are in- 
adequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high 
with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our 
case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must 
disinthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. 

" Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this 
Congress and this Administration shall be remembered in 
spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignifi- 
cance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial 
through which we pass will light us down in honor or dis- 
honor to the latest generation. We say that we are for the 



The First Enrolment of Negroes. 233 

Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We 
know how to save the Union. The world knows we do 
know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power 
and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave 
we assure freedom to the free, honorable alike in what we 
give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly 
lose the last, best hope of earth. Other means may succeed ; 
this could ]iot, cannot fail. The way is plain, peaceful, gen- 
erous, just, — a way which, if followed, the world will forever 
applaud and God uiust forever bless. 

*' AbrahAxM Lincoln." 

During this session of Congress there was a great 
deal of discussion whether negroes should be armed 
and employed as soldiers. Many of the Congress- 
men were very much opposed to it ; but at length it 
was decided to try the experiment, and before the 
end of the year there were a hundred thousand black 
men in the service of the United States. This Con- 
gress passed another very important bill for the pro- 
secution of the war, called the Conscription Bill. This 
bill gave the President power to create a national 
army by enrolling and drafting the militia of the 
whole country. Every State was required to raise its 
quota of men according to its population. When this 
great army w^as raised, it was to be entirely at the 
control of the President. 

B)^ this act all able-bodied men who were citizens, 



234 TJie Children s Life of Abraham Li7icoln. 

or who had declared their intention of becoming citi- 
zens of the United States, between the ages of twenty 
and forty-five years, were Hable to be drafted as 
soldiers. Those who chose to pay three hundred 
dollars or furnish a substitute could remain at home. 
There were also some other exemptions, such as the 
only son of a widow, or the only son of aged and in- 
firm parents, who were dependent on their boy for 
support. 

The draft was ordered to take place in July, and it 
was publicly proclaimed how many men each State 
would be required to furnish. As a general thing the 
loyal people approved of the draft, and thought it was 
the best and fairest way to raise men to carry on the 
war. Volunteering was not nearly so brisk as when 
the contest commenced, and it was feared that men 
enough could not be raised in that way who would re- 
main till the end of the war. Some of the President's 
enemies, however, made a great noise about the draft, 
and said it was a very despotic measure, because it fa- 
vored the rich and oppressed the poor. *' Any rich 
man," said they, " can pay his three hundred dollars 
and stay at home ; but if a poor man be drafted, 
he must go whether he wants to or not." But these 
grumblers did not do much mischief, and the draft 
went quietly on in all places but New York and Chi- 
cago. At New York there was a shameful riot and 
mob. 




KiUTs-*'r 



THE 



^^•^My 



Draft Riots in New York. 237 



The names of all the men liable to be drafted were 
written down and placed in a wheel. A man ap- 
pointed to draw the names was blindfolded, and 
every precaution was taken to prevent cheating. 
The wheel was turned, and as many names as were 
required were drawn from the whole number. It was 
like a lottery; nobody knew whether he should be 
drafted or not till his name was called. But nearly 
everybody took the matter very good-naturedly, and 
most of those who were drafted went ; but some paid 
the three hundred dollars and stayed at home. 

In New York, however, as I told you, things did 
not go on very smoothly. The draft began there on 
the nth of July, w^hich was Saturday. No disturb- 
ance occurred on that day; but on Sunday some bad 
men put their heads together to see if they could 
break up the draft, w^hich was no sooner commenced 
on Monday morning than a gang of these fellows 
burst into one of the buildings where the business 
was going on, broke the wheel in pieces, tore up the 
lists of names, and set the office on fire. The excite- 
ment quickly spread all over the city. The police 
did their best to restrain it, but they were almost 
powerless against such an angry mob as were now 
filling the streets. The city authorities called out 
the militia, but unfortunately there w^ere but very few 
soldiers available. Nearly all had gone to Pennsyl- 



238 TJie Childre/is Life of Abmhajn Lincohi. 

vania to repel Lee's invasion ; for you will remem- 
ber this was only a few days after the battle of 
Gettysburg. 

The mob knew the city was in a crippled condi- 
tion, and took advantage of it, and for a time got the 
upper hand. Indeed, for four whole days they 
seemed to have everything their own way. They 
burned building after building, among others an or- 
phan asylum for colored children. Negroes were 
hanged, beaten to death, and mutilated in various ways. 
Bands of ruffians paraded the streets, demanding 
money and ordering places of business to be closed, 
and all sorts of outrages were committed, till no man 
felt that either his life or his money was safe. The 
police and the few remaining soldiers did their duty 
most manfully, and after a time the regiments began 
to return from Pennsylvania to help them ; so that 
peace and order were at length restored. 

Of course during the riot the draft could not pro- 
ceed. It was resumed, however, in a few weeks; and 
as the mob knew that the city was now in a position 
to defend itself, no more opposition w^as made. 
Some little trouble occurred at Chicago, but nothing 
of consequence; and in all other parts of the country 
the draft proceeded quietly and pleasantly. 

You will remember, children, that one of the Pres- 
ident's vexatious trials was having to contend with 



Trial and Sentence of Vallandigham. 239 

Rebel sympathizers. One of the most prominent of 
these men was the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, a mem- 
ber of Congress from Ohio. This man had been 
very troublesome in Congress, opposing all measures 
that were adopted for the prosecution of the war. 
Upon his return home he was bolder than ever, and 
went about denouncing the Government. 

He made a speech one day, in which he declared 
that the war was not carried on to restore the Union, 
but to crush out liberty and establish despotism. He 
said its object was to enslave the whites and free the 
blacks ; that the Government could have had peace 
long ago, if it had desired it ; that it ought to have 
accepted the mediation of France ; and that it had 
deliberately refused propositions by which the South 
might have been brought back into the Union. Mr. 
Vallandigham also denounced an order of General 
Burnside, who commanded the department in which 
this traitor lived, and said he intended to disobey this 
order himself. He called upon all who heard him to 
disobey it also and prevent it from being executed. 

General Burnside, hearing of these things, ordered 
Mr. Vallandigham to be arrested and tried before a 
court-martial at Cincinnati. Upon this Vallandigham 
appealed to the writ of habeas corpus ; but Judge 
Stewart refused to grant the writ, because he said 
General Burnside had only done what was necessary 



240 The CJiildreii s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

for the public safety. Judge Stewart said : " Those 
who Hve under the protection and enjoy the bless- 
ings of our benignant Government must learn that 
they cannot stab its vitals with impunity." The court- 
martial found Vallandigham guilty, and sentenced him 
to imprisonment in some United States fortress. Gen- 
eral Burnside said he should be sent to Fort Warren 
in Boston Harbor. 

The President, who always wished to be as merci- 
ful as possible to everybody, mitigated this sentence 
by telling Vallandigham that instead of being im- 
prisoned he might go within the Rebel lines, but 
must not return within the Union lines until the war 
was ended. But notwithstanding the President's 
kindness, a great noise was made by his enemies 
about the arrest and sentence of Mr. Vallandigham. 
Meetings were held denouncing the President's 
course, calling him a tyrant, and demanding the 
return of Mr. Vallandigham. 

In reply to this, the President said it was well known 
that armed combinations had been formed in many 
places to resist the draft and to resist the arrest of 
deserters from the armiy ; and he solemnly believed 
Mr. Vallandigham had caused this hindrance to the 
military more than any other one person. " And," 
said the President, " must I shoot a simple-minded 
soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a 



Close of the Year 1863. 241 

hair of a wily agitator, who induces him to desert? I 
think to silence the agitator and save the boy is not 
only constitutional but, withal, a great mercy. 

" Nor am I able," he continues, " to appreciate the 
danger apprehended by the meeting, that the Ameri- 
can people will, by means of military arrests during 
the Rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the 
liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, 
trial by jury and habeas corpus, throughout the indefi- 
nite, peaceful future which, I trust, lies before them, 
any more than I am able to believe that a man could 
contract so strong an appetite for emetics, during 
temporary illness, as to persist in feeding upon them 
during the remainder of his healthful life." 

We shall mention only one more item of the year 
1863. 

During the summer of this year it was discovered 
that some very formidable rams were being built in 
England, which were evidently intended for the Reb- 
els. Our minister, Mr. Adams, had spared no pains 
to get evidence in regard to these iron-clads, and at 
length told Earl Russell that if they were permitted 
to sail as other ships had been, the United States 
would be obliged to conclude that it meant war. At 
first England declined to do anything about the 
rams ; but finally changed her mind, and gave orders 
that they should not leave Liverpool. 

16 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Congress. — Amnesty Proclamation. — General Grant. — Presi 
dential Campaign. — Lincoln re-elected. — His Reception 
of the News. 



E have now arrived at the 
dawn of the year 1864. 
The military events of 
that year are .so closely 
connected with those of 
the following year that 
they cannot well be told 
separately. We will 
therefore hear further 
about the doings of Con- 
gress and the plans of 
the President, before we 
return to the story of the war. 

Congress met at the usual time, in the last month 
of 1863 ; and the President sent in his annual Message, 
in which he offered another inducement to the Rebels 
to lay down their arms and return to their allegiance 
to the United States. This is called the Proclama- 




Proclamation of Amnesty, 243 

tion of Amnesty (or Pardon), and you shall have the 
President's own words : — 

" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do 
proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have 
directly or by implication participated in the existing Rebel- 
lion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is 
hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration . 
of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property 
cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and 
upon the condition that every such person shall take and 
subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain said 
oath inviolate, — an oath which shall be registered for per- 
manent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect 
following, to wit : 

" ' I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty 

God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union 
of the States thereunder, and that I will in like manner abide 
by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during 
the existing Rebellion with reference to slaves so long and ' 
so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or 
the decision of the Supreme Court ; and that I will in like 
manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of 
the President made during the existing Rebellion having 
reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or 
declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help 
me God.' 

''The persons excepted from the foregoing provisions are : 



244 ^/^^ Childreji's Life of Abraham Liiicolii. 

All who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or 
agents of the so-called Confederate Government ; all who 
have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the 
Rebellion ; all who are or shall have been military or naval 
officers of the so-cailed Confederate Government, above the 
rank of colonel in the army, or of lieutenant in the navy ; all 
who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the Rebel- 
lion ; all who resigned commissions in the army or navy 
of the United States, and afterward aided the RebelHon ; and 
all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons 
or white persons in charge of such otherwise than lawfully as 
prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found in 
the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or in any other 
capacity. 

"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known 
that whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Flor- 
ida, South Carolina, and North Carolina a number of persons, 
not less than one tenth in number of the votes cast in such 
States at the Presidential election of the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the 
oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and being 
a qualified voter by the election law of the State, existing 
immediately before the so-called act of secession and exclud- 
ing all others, shall re-establish a State government which shall 
be Republican and in no wise contravening said oath, — such 
shall be recognized as the true government of the State ; and 
the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the consti- 
tutional provision which declares that 'The United States 



The President's Desire for Peace. 245 



shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican 
form of government, and shall protect each of them against 
invasion and, on application to the Legislature or the Ex- 
ecutive when the Legislature cannot be convened, against 
domestic violence.' " 

Thus, you see that although the enemies of the 
good President accused him of prolonging the war 
for his own purposes, — and some of them went so 
far as to declare that he might have had peace long 
before if he had desired it, — this was so far from 
being true that he was constantly planning every 
means he could think of to induce the Rebels to 
cease fighting before they were conquered and 
compelled to surrender. 

I have told you in these pages of the various ways 
in which he tried to show the Southern people that 
they could gain nothing by the war, but in the end 
must lose everything, slaves and all. Now, as a last 
resort, he told them that if they would only take this 
oath of allegiance to the Government of the United 
States and keep it, he would pardon them. In other 
words, he would forget that they had ever been 
Rebels, — for amnesty comes from a Greek word which 
means to forget. 

The President therefore said to the Rebels that he 
would never remember any more that they had not 
been all the time the best of citizens, if they would 



246 TJic Childrms Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

take the oath and go home and keep it ; and when 
one tenth of all the legal voters in any State then in 
rebellion had done this, they should constitute the 
real State, and could make a new State Government 
and be admitted to their old privileges in the Union. 
This was the President's plan of reconstruction. 

During this winter Congress talked a great deal 
about the merits of General Grant, and it seemed to 
be the prevailing opinion, not only in Congress but 
all over the country, that he was the greatest military 
man we had. In the latter part of the year 1863, 
after the capture of Vicksburg, he had performed 
some other very brilliant exploits in the West. The 
President was so pleased with the General that he 
wrote him the following letter : — 

Major-General Grant : . 

Understanding that your lodgement at Chattanooga and 
Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you and all under 
your command my more than thanks, my profoundest grat- 
itude, for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which 
you and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that 

important object. God bless you all. 

A. Lincoln. 

About this time Congress sent a vote of thanks to 
General Grant and his officers for their gallant deeds, 
and ordered a gold medal to be made and presented 
to the General in the name of the people of the 



Grant commissioned Liciitcnant-Gcncral. 247 



United States. This medal was very beautiful, and 
a mark of great honor ; but still greater honors were 
in reserve for the brave General who had done so 
much for us. 

Durino- the winter Congress resolved to restore the 
grade of Lieutenant-General in the army. This title 
had never been conferred upon any one as an actual 
rank in time of war, except upon General Washing- 
ton. General Scott had borne the title by brevet; 
that is, he had been called Lieutenant-General as an 
act of courtesy, but it was not his real rank. It was 
now proposed to bestow it upon General Grant. His 
commission bore the date of March 2, 1864; and a 
few days later the General received it from the hands 
of the President himself. 

The time was now approaching for a new Presi- 
dential campaign. This is always a period of great 
excitement even in the calmest times ; and that it 
must now necessarily happen in the midst of a great 
civil war, when the people were divided into all sorts 
of factions, was looked upon by those who really 
loved their country as a great misfortune. But come 
it must. There was no help for it. By the terms 
of the Constitution nobody could be President more 
than four years at a time, unless re-elected. 

Mr. Lincoln was now in the fourth year of his ad- 
ministration, and in the month of November some- 



248 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

body must be chosen to fill his place. You already 
know how a Presidential campaign is conducted, and 
how the President is chosen. The great difficulty 
among all loyal persons at this time was to decide 
who should be the candidate. Men who truly desired 
to save the country from destruction thought this was 
no time to choose any person because he represented 
a particular party, but rather because he would be 
the best man to carry the good old ship of the Union 
safely through the terrific storm, which still threat- 
ened to dash her in pieces against the rocks. 

Who was wise enough to be the pilot? — that was 
the question. The country was in a fearful condi- 
tion. Nobody could venture to predict when the 
war would end. The Rebels seemed just as deter- 
mined as ever, and for aught we could see about 
as strong. The people were heavily taxed, and the 
big national debt was daily growing bigger, because 
it cost so much to carry on such a tremendous war. 
England kept telling us that we were crazy, that we 
could never pay such a debt, and that the nation 
would soon be bankrupt. Some bad speculators had 
raised gold to an unheard-of price. Thousands of 
the best and bravest men in the land had fallen in 
battle, and the Government was calling for thousands 
more. Who was wise enough to stand at the helm 
and guide the ship through this fearful storm? 



Mr. Lincoln re-elected to the Presidency. 249 



The great body of the people said: "Abraham 
Lincoln shall be our pilot and our captain." The 
boys in blue said : ** We have all re-enlisted to see 
this thing through; and 'Old Abe' must re-enlist 
too. ' Old Abe ' must stay in the White House until 
every Rebel climbs down and agrees to behave him- 
self and obey the laws of his country." So Mr. 
Lincoln was re-elected by an overwhelming majority. 

When the President was told that he was nomi- 
nated for re-election, he said, with childlike simplicity, 
that he was very grateful that the people did not 
deem him unworthy of his position. When he was 
told that he was re-elected by a very large majority, 
he said : — 

" 1 am thankful to God for this approval of the people. 
But while deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence 
in me, if I know my own heart, my gratitude is free from 
any taint of personal triumph. It is no pleasure to me to 
triumph over any one ; but I give thanks to the Almighty for 
this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free 
government and the rights of humanity." 

His opponent was General McClellan, who had 
been nominated by a portion of the Democratic 
party; but he received the electoral votes of only 
three States, as a great many Democrats voted for 
Mr. Lincoln. 



250 The CJiildrens Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Again the President says : — 

" So long as I have been here I have not willingly planted 
a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am duly sensible to 
the high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I 
trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen 
to a right conclusion, as I think, for their good, it adds noth- 
ing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disap- 
pointed by the result. . . . May I ask those who have not 
differed with me to join with me in this same spirit toward 
those who have ? . . . And now let me close by asking three 
hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen and their 
gallant commanders." 

This last remark was addressed to some clubs that 
had come to serenade the President. Again, the 
President said in his funny way, — for he was always 
ready with a humorous or witty remark, — that he 
did not permit himself to conclude that he was the 
best man in the country; but he was reminded of the 
story of an old Dutch farmer, who said it was not 
best to swap horses when crossing a stream. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Congress. — The President's Message. — A Constitutional 
Amendment. — The Peace Conference. — The Second In- 
auguration of Lincoln. 




E have now come to the Congressional ses- 
sion of 1 864-1 865. The President recom- 
mended in his Message that Congress 
should pass an act which the Senate had 
passed at the previous session, but which failed to 
pass the House, submitting to the States an amend- 
ment to the Constitution which should prohibit 
slavery in the United States. He closes the Message 
in these words : — 

*' I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that while I 
remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract 
or modify the Emancipation Proclamation. Nor shall I re- 
turn to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that 
proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress. If the 
people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an ex- 
ecutive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, 
must be their instrument to perform it. 



252 The Children's Life of Abraham Li7tcoln. 

" In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simply to say 
that the war will cease on the part of the Government when- 
ever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it." 

On the last day of January the Constitutional 
amendment abolishing slavery all over the United 
States passed the House. The vote was announced 
amid the greatest excitement and most uproarious 
applause. I believe some of the Congressmen kissed 
each other, they were so glad. Cannons roared, bells 
rang, and banners waved all over the land as soon as 
the telegraph told us the joyful news. A great crowd 
assembled around the President's mansion to congrat- 
ulate him. 

To them he said : " This amendment is a king's 
cure for all evils. It winds the whole thing up. It 
is the fitting, if not indispensable, adjunct in the 
consummation of the great game we are playing." 

This amendment had passed both Houses of Con- 
gress, and needed now to be adopted by three fourths 
of the States before it could become part and parcel 
of the Constitution. Several of the States adopted it 
immediately, while others hesitated. 

About this time there was a great deal of excite- 
ment among the people, caused by rumors that the 
President was trying to negotiate a peace with Jeffer- 
son Davis. The foundation for the story was this : 
Mr. Francis P. Blair, a gentleman of great experience 



Failure of Peace Negotiations. 253 

in political life, asked Mr. Lincoln to give him a pass 
through our lines to Richmond and back. The 
President complied with this request. When Mr. 
Blair reached Richmond, he went to see Jefferson 
Davis and other prominent Rebels. 

Upon his return to Washington he carried a written 
statement from Mr. Davis, that he was willing to send 
a commission to the United States, or receive one 
from them, for the purpose of making negotiations 
for the restoration of peace between the two coun- 
tries. Mr. Blair showed this statement to President 
Lincoln, who in return wrote a statement that he was 
ready, and always had been, to receive any agent 
that Mr. Davis might choose to send informally 
for the purpose of securing peace to the people of 
our common country. Mr. Blair went back to Rich- 
mond, and showed this statement of Mr. Lincoln's 
to Jefferson Davis. 

Mr. Davis saw that Mr. Lincoln had no idea of 
admitting that there were two countries or two gov- 
ernments within the limits of the United States, and 
that no person whom he might choose to send to Mr. 
Lincoln to talk about peace would be received in any 
official capacity, but only as a private individual. So 
the matter ended right there. 

Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. 
A. Campbell were permitted by the President to pass 



254 TJie CJiildrcn's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

within our lines to Fortress Monroe, and go on board 
a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads. On the 3d 
of February Mr. Seward and the President held a 
conference of several hours' duration with these gen- 
tlemen, but nothing came of it. The President's 
conditions of peace were, that the national authority 
must be recognized in all the States, that all the 
Rebel armies must immediately disband and go 
quietly home, and that slavery must be abolished. 

The Rebel commissioners went back and reported 
to Mr. Davis, who said he scorned to accept such 
propositions, and was more determined than ever to 
fight it out. The President had no reason to suppose 
that any good could result from this conference when 
he consented to it. But he allowed it to take place, 
in order to convince a certain class of people in the 
country of their error in insisting that the President 
might have peace if he would propose proper terms 
to the South. But Jefferson Davis had always said 
he would not accept any terms but the independence 
of the Confederate States ; and to satisfy everybody 
that this was true, the President decided to see the 
so-called commissioners himself 

And now the 4th of March drew on, the time for 
Mr. Lincoln's second inauguration. Much had hap- 
pened during the last four years. You will remember 
that at the time of his first inauguration he was 



The Second Iiiaiigm-atiou of Mr. Lijicoln. 255 

guarded by a band of soldiers, lest his life should be 
taken before he was sworn into office. He was then 
an unknown man. His best friends and warmest sup- 
porters scarcely dared to hope that he would be equal 
to the terrible emergency which all saw was at hand ; 
and his enemies not only hated him bitterly but ridi- 
culed him as being ignorant and obscure, and wholly 
unfit for any public position. 

But four years of the most difficult administration 
of government that any man in the world ever expe- 
rienced had made every one acquainted with the 
pure, noble-hearted, wise, honest, rare, Christian pa- 
triot, whom God in his great mercy had given us for 
a leader in those perilous times. Now he stood be- 
fore the assembled multitude as the chosen ruler of 
thirty millions of people, looked up to and trusted in 
as no man since Washington had ever been. Indeed, 
at that moment I think we can say without exaggera- 
tion that Abraham Lincoln possessed more power, 
and certainly was better loved, than any other one 
man on the face of the earth. What a lesson his 
public life teaches ! His greatness came from his 
thorough goodness. 

His second inaugural address has been pronounced 
the most perfect state paper that ever was written ; 
you shall have opportunity, therefore, to read the 
whole of it. It is as follows : — 



256 TJie Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Fellow-Countrymen, — At this second appearing to take 
the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an 
extended address than there was at the first. Then a state- 
ment, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued seemed 
very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, 
during which public declarations have been constantly called 
forth on every point and phase of the great contest which 
still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the 
nation, little that is new could be presented. 

The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly de- 
pends, is as well known to the pubUc as to myself; and it is, 
I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With 
high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is 
ventured. 

On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all 
thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. 
All dreaded it ; all sought to avoid it. While the inaugural 
address was being delivered from this place, devoted alto- 
gether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents 
were in the city seeking to destroy it with war, — seeking to 
dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. 
Both parties deprecated war ; but one of them would make 
war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One 
eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not dis- 
tributed generally over the Union, but localized in the 
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and 
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, some- 
how, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, 



President Lincoln s Second Inaugural Address. 257 

and extend this interest was the object for which the insur- 
gents would rend the Union by war, while the government 
claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial 
enlargement of it. 

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the 
duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated 
that the cause of the conflict might cease, or even before the 
conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier tri- 
umph and a result less fundamental and astounding. 

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and 
each invokes His aid against the otlier. It may seem strange 
that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in 
wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces ; 
but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of 
both could not be answered. That of neither has been 
answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. 

" Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must 
needs be that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom 
the offence cometh."' If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of these offences which, in the providence 
of God, must needs come, but which having continued 
through his appointed time he now wills to remove, and that 
he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the 
woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we dis- 
cern there any departure from those Divine attributes which 
the believers in a living God always ascribe to him ? Fondly 
do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge 
of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it 
/continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two 

17 



258 TJie Childrejis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and 
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid 
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand 
years ago, so still it must be said that " the judgments of the 
Lord are true and righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firm- 
ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us 
finish the work we are in, — to bind up the nation's wounds, 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 
widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with 
all nations. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



General Grant. — General Sherman. — Grant's Campaign against 
Richmond. — General Sheridan. — Sherman's Grand March. 
— Savannah. — Fort Fisher. — Petersburg and Richmond 
Evacuated. — President Lincoln enters Richmond. — Sur- 
render of Lee. — Celebrations. — The President's Last 
Speech. 

0\V we will return, 
in our story of the 
war, to the begin- 
ning of the year 
1864. There had 
been some very 
brilliant fighting 
in the West in the 
latterpartof 1863, 
as I have already 
told you ; and its 
results are very 
finely and comprehensively stated in Grant's con- 
gratulatory order to his army. General Grant said to 
his soldiers : — 

" In a short time you have recovered from the enemy the 
control of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to Knoxville ; 




26o The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

you dislodged him from his great stronghold upon Lookout 
Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga valley, wrested from 
his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge, 
repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults from 
Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, driving him 
at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the 
Umits of the State." 

It was immediately after these splendid successes 
that Grant received his gold medal. 

As the year 1864 dawned upon us, the public 
attention was especially directed to the movements 
of the two great armies, that of the Potomac and that 
of the West. The winter was spent principally in 
making preparations for a new campaign. The 
Army of the Potomac, under the command of Gen- 
eral Meade, lay around Culpepper Court-House, 
anxious to make another demonstration upon Rich- 
mond. The Army of the West was making prepara- 
tions for its grand Southern campaign. 

On the 1 2th of March the President placed Grant, 
who was now Lieutenant-General, in command of all 
the armies of the United States. Gen. W. T. Sher- 
man was appointed to succeed Grant in command of 
the military division of the Mississippi. 

The Lieutenant-General determined to take com- 
mand in person of the armies which were to assail 
Richmond. Previous to doing this, he arranged with 



The Campaign against Richmond. 261 

General Sherman a plan for the spring and summer 
campaign. Sherman was to move, as nearly as pos- 
sible, at the same time as Grant, that no reinforce- 
ments might be sent from one Rebel army to the 
other. Grant was to move upon Richmond, Sherman 
upon Atlanta. Great preparations were necessary for 
these gigantic undertakings, but both generals were 
ready to commence operations about the 1st of May. 

General Grant was now prepared to take the field 
in person against his skilled opponent, General Lee. 
Grant had a magnificent force at his disposal, consist- 
ing in fact of three armies, — the Army of the Potomac, 
under Meade; of the James, under Butler; and of 
the Shenandoah, under Sigel. These three armies 
were stationed at different points, and were to move 
in different directions ; but they had one common 
object in view, — the capture of Richmond. The 
Army of the Potomac had the honor of beginning 
the contest. 

On the night of the 3d of May it had orders to 
break camp, and the next day it commenced its 
forward march, crossing the Rapidan without oppo- 
sition. This movement compelled Lee to leave his 
intrenchments, and come out and give battle, which 
was the very thing Grant intended he should do. 
General Grant knew that the true way to take Rich- 
mond and crush the Rebellion was to destroy Lee's 



262 TJie Children' s Life of Abraham Lincohi. 

army, and he intended to continue to fight the enemy 
until he had accompHshed his object. 

Almost as soon as the Army of the Potomac had 
crossed the Rapidan, they plunged into what is known 
as ** The Wilderness," a very difficult tract of country 
for a battlefield, being cov^ered with scrub pines and 
tangled underbrush, with only a few bad roads, mak- 
ing it almost impossible to use artillery or cavalry. 
The Rebels had the advantage, because they knew 
every inch of the country, and were able to conceal 
their movements. 

On Thursday the terrible battles of the Wilderness 
commenced. The fighting continued till late into the 
night without any decided advantage on either side. 
At four o'clock the next morning Lee began the con- 
test again. The fighting was terribly severe this day, 
and toward evening Lee succeeded in flanking Grant; 
but Grant in his turn flanked Lee, and at daylight 
Saturday morning it was discovered that Lee was 
falling back. Grant had now got out of the Wilder- 
ness into the open country, where he could make 
use of his artillery. He pursued Lee, and came up 
with him at Spottsylvania Court House, where Lee 
had taken up a very strong position. 

During Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes- 
day the fighting was terrific, without any decided 
result on either side. But at half-past four on Thurs- 



The Campaign against RicJiniond. 263 

day morning Hancock made a tremendous bayonet 
charge, which was more than the Rebels could stand. 
Hancock won the day, capturing thirty guns and four 
thousand prisoners. We gained some other successes 
on this day, though the Rebels fought with almost 
superhuman courage. They kept up the struggle 
till three d clock Friday morning, trying to retake the 
positions which Hancock had gained. On Friday 
Lee re-formed his lines ; but Grant kept up with him. 

Both armies now rested for a few days, and were 
largely reinforced. On the i8th Hancock began 
again, and gained two lines of the enemy's intrench- 
ments. Grant occupied the next three days in mak- 
ing one of his flank movements, which was successful. 

Lee in the mean time had taken up a strong posi- 
tion between the North and South Anna Rivers. 
Grant considered Lee's position too strong for direct 
attack ; so he made another flank movement. He 
recrossed the North Anna, burned up the bridge of 
the Virginia Central Railroad, crossed the Pamunkey 
River, and on the last day of May was within fifteen 
miles of Richmond with all his army. But Lee had 
been reinforced, and was ready for him.. 

On the 3d of June the battle of Cold Harbor was 
fought, and our troops were successful. General 
Grant now determined to cross the James River and 
attack Richmond from that side. 



264 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincohi. 

All this time Butler and Sigel had not been idle. 
Butler had occupied and fortified Bermuda Hundred, 
cut the railroad below Petersburg, attacked both 
that city and Fort Darling, and although he had not 
been able to capture either, had nevertheless held his 
own position against the Rebels, and was in condi- 
tion to render valuable assistance to the Army of the 
Potomac, as it approached him. 

Sigel had been unfortunate in his part of the pro- 
crramme, and was relieved of his command and sue- 
ceeded by General Hunter, who for a time met with 
better success. He defeated the enemy at Staunton, 
driving him to Waynesboro, and capturing guns and 
prisoners. Sheridan, meantime, was on one of his 
famous raids, riding around Lee's lines, tearing up 
railroads, demolishing depots and supply-trains, and 
setting Union prisoners at liberty. 

As soon as Grant had crossed the James, he de- 
cided to attack Petersburg; but his movements were 
hindered through some misunderstanding on the part 
of the cavalry. However, he kept at work, and by 
the 22d of June Petersburg was partially invested. 
On that day our troops gained possession of the 
Petersburg and Danville Railroad. 

Grant was now for a time apparently quiet; but 
he was in reality preparing a new surprise for the 
Rebels : he was mining their fort if cations. This 



General Sheridan^ s Success. 265 

mine was charged with eight tons of powder, and by 
Grant's order was exploded on the 30th of July, and 
an assault upon Petersburg commenced ; but through 
some disagreement among the officers this movement 
proved a failure. But Grant, instead of being dis- 
couraged, continued operations with more energy 
than ever. In August a battle was fought on the 
north side of the James, by which we captured some 
heavy guns and several hundred prisoners. In the 
latter part of the month Grant took possession of a 
portion of the Weldon Railroad. 

The Lieutenant-General was not satisfied with the 
movements in the Shenandoah valley, and in this 
same month he organized a new department, calling 
it the Department of the Shenandoah, and appointed 
Sheridan to command it. Sheridan achieved some 
splendid successes during the autumn. On the 19th 
of September occurred the battle of Opequan Creek, 
in which Sheridan sent the Rebel General Early 
whirling through Winchester, and took many prison- 
ers, capturing also a large number of guns. Three 
days later Sheridan gained another victory at Fisher's 
Hill, completely routing the Rebels, capturing artillery, 
horses, and ammunition. The enemy lost about ten 
thousand men in these two engagements. These vic- 
tories caused great rejoicing throughout the North; and 
praises of gallant Phil Sheridan were on every tongue. 



266 TJie Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

On the 19th of October, while Sheridan was ab- 
sent, Early took the opportunity to attack our army, 
and came near defeating it. But at a critical moment, 
when our forces were retreating, Sheridan came rid- 
ing up, his horse covered with foam. ^* Face the 
other way, boys ! " he shouted. " We are going back 
to our camp; we are going to lick them out of their 
boots ! " The effect was magical. Men with both 
arms shot off went to the front, cheering and shouting. 
Our lines were quickly re-formed, and the enemy was 
utterly routed, and Early was once more sent " whirl- 
ing through the valley." This was regarded as one of 
the most brilliant exploits of the war, turning what 
bid fair to be a terrible defeat into a splendid victory. 

All this time, Sherman had been nobly fulfilling 
the task assigned to him. After much severe fight- 
ing, he took possession of Atlanta on the second 
day of September. Sherman destroyed Atlanta, 
and leaving General Thomas to take care of the 
Rebel General Hood, cut loose from his base of sup- 
plies and marched with his grand army three hun- 
dred miles, through the heart of the enemy's country, 
and on the 22d of December captured the city of 
Savannah, having laid waste the entire region through 
which he passed. 

During the autumn General Grant planned an at- 
tack upon Wilmington, which was a very important 



Capture of Wilmington. 267 

stronghold of the Rebels, as it was the port through 
which they recei\-ed most of their supplies from 
Europe, by means of vessels which succeeded in 
running the blockade. 

This port was guarded by Fort Fisher, one of the 
strongest fortifications in the world. On the 13th of 
December an expedition under the command of Gen- 
eral Butler, accompanied by a naval force under 
Admiral Porter, sailed from Hampton Roads, for the 
purpose of assaulting Fort Fisher. But it proved a 
failure, and the troops returned to City Point. 

General Grant, however, was not disposed to give 
up his plan, and soon after despatched another expe- 
dition under the command of General Terry, who 
with the aid of Admiral Porter captured Fort Fisher 
on the 15th of January, thus closing the harbor of 
Wilmington to the Rebels. They could receive no 
more supplies from Europe through that port. They 
now began to tremble, although they tried to laugh 
away their fears. 

During the month of December General Thomas 
was also doing splendid execution in the West: he 
completely crushed Hood's army, in a three days' 
fight, in front of Nashville. Thus, you see, light at 
last was breaking through the dark clouds, the storm 
was subsiding, and it looked now as if the good old 
ship of the Union might ride out the gale. 



268 The Children s Life of Abraham Lincolti. 

The year 1865 dawned most hopefully. Sherman 
had made the President a Christmas gift of the city of 
Savannah, together with twenty-five thousand bales of 
cotton and a great quantity of big guns and ammu- 
nition. Hood's army had been crushed, and by the 
middle of January Fort Fisher was ours. General 
Terry followed up his successes, capturing one Rebel 
fort after another, on the Cape Fear River, till, on the 
22d of February, Wilmington was evacuated without 
a struggle, and our troops celebrated Washington's 
Birthday by marching in and taking possession of 
the city. Sherman was also doing his part as effec- 
tively as ever. He left Savannah, and pushing north- 
ward through almost impassable swamps entered the 
State of South Carolina and captured Columbia, the 
capital of the State, without a battle, on the 17th of 
February. As a consequence of Sherman's approach, 
Charleston was abandoned, and the stars and stripes 
once more floated over the rebellious city. 

In the mean time Grant kept steadily at work. On 
the 6th of February he ordered a movement to Hatch- 
er's Run, in order to connect his lines more closely 
with the Weldon Railroad. After a terrible fight, in 
which the Rebels at first got the advantage, our 
troops gained an advance of four miles. On the 
25th of March the Rebels attacked Fort Stedman 
and captured the garrison; but our soldiers retook 



TJie Union Army enters Richmond. 269 

the fort after a severe struggle. The President was 
on a visit to the Army of the Potomac, and arrived 
on the field just in time to see the retreat of the 
Rebels. By the 19th of March General Sherman had 
reached Goldsborough, North Carolina, and joined 
his forces with those of General Terry. 

Upon his arrival at Goldsborough, Sherman made 
a visit to City Point, to meet the President and General 
Grant, and to plan with them the movement which 
was destined to end the war. On the 30th of March 
Grant was ready for his last, grand move. 

Sheridan had the honor of beginning the final con- 
test. He made a wide detour, and pretended to 
threaten Burkesville ; and when he had directed Lee's 
attention to that quarter, he wheeled suddenly around 
at Dinwiddle Court Plouse, and striking the South- 
side Railroad within a few miles of Petersburg, moved 
upon that city, tearing up the road as he marched, 
and attacked Lee's right flank. Meantime the Army 
of the Potomac hammered away at Lee's front, and 
the Army of the James attacked the left flank. 

After four days' hard-fought battles, Sheridan suc- 
ceeded in flanking Lee, and in taking possession of 
the South-side Railroad and capturing about six 
thousand prisoners. The Army of the Potomac had 
gained possession of the Rebel lines in front, and 
Petersburg was at our mercy. On the 2d of April 



2fO The Children s Life of Ahrahain Lincoln. 

General Lee saw that the time had come when Peters- 
burg and Richmond must be abandoned. 

It was Sunday, and Jefferson Davis was at church 
in Richmond, when a despatch was handed to him 
from General Lee, saying that he could no longer 
hold the city. During that night both cities were 
evacuated. At half-past eight the next morning the 
President, who was at City Point, telegraphed these 
facts to Secretary Stanton. General Weitzel and his 
corps of colored troops were the first to enter Rich- 
mond, where they arrived about the same time that the 
President sent the despatch. Richmond was all in a 
blaze. The Rebels did not mean that we should have 
their capital; they meant to burn it up; but Weitzel 
was too quick for them, and soon put out the fire. 

The next day the President himself went to Rich- 
mond. He entered the city in his own modest way, 
without any guard, and walked, like any private citi- 
zen, up to the house of Jefferson Davis, where Weitzel 
had taken up his headquarters. Before he reached 
the house the news spread rapidly among the negroes 
that the President had come. He was immediately 
surrounded on all sides by the dusky throng. They 
were very impatient to see their great deliverer. 
They shouted, clapped their hands, danced and 
jumped, and made every sort of wild demonstration 
of joy. One woman, with her hands clasped and the 



The Surrender of Lee to Grant. 



271 



tears running down her cheeks, shouted, " I thank 
you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum." 
Others shouted, " Bress de Lawd ! Bress de Lawd ! " 

It was a long walk, and the President stopped to 
rest. An old negro took off his hat and bowed to 
the President, and with tears rolling down his dusky 
cheeks said : " May the good 
Lord bless you. President Lin- 
kum." The President took off 
his own hat and returned the 
bow. This was the way President 
Lincoln entered Richmond. 

Meantime Grant was pursu- 
ing Lee. Lee did his utmost 
to escape; but finding it im- 
possible, surrendered his whole 
army to the Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral on the 9th of April, upon 
Grant's own terms. 

This was the death-blow to 
the Southern Confederacy ; it 
never breathed again. 

As this glorious news flashed over the wires from 
city to city, no pen can describe the excitement and 
rejoicing throughout the land. There had been no 
excitement equal to it, since the day Sumter was fired 
upon. Nobody thought of work or of business. 




BRESS DE LAWD ! " 



2/2 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Even the speculators forgot their gold! All persons 
who could beg, borrow, or buy an American flag, 
draped their buildings. Houses were illuminated, 
bells rung, and cannons fired, from one end of the 
country to the other. Prayers were said in all the 
business marts. Men who had perhaps never prayed 
before, now thanked God for this glorious victory. 
Cheers for Old Abe, as the President was fondly 
called. Unconditional Surrender Grant, Sherman, 
and Sheridan, rent the air. The dear President did 
indeed now behold the fruit of all his labors. He 
who had trusted so implicitly in his Heavenly Fa- 
ther, was not disappointed. He was now paid for 
all his sleepless nights and careworn days. 

The President returned to Washington on the day 
of Lee's surrender. The next evening there was a 
great celebration. The President's mansion and all 
the public buildings were brilliantly illuminated and 
decorated with bunting, and bonfires blazed all over 
the city. An immense throng assembled at the 
White House, to hear what the President had to say 
to them upon so memorable an occasion. Little did 
they think it was the last time they should listen to 
that beloved voice ! But alas ! so God willed. The 
President spoke thus : — 

" Fellow- Citizens, — We meet this evening, not in sor- 
row, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg 



The Last Addi'css of President Lmcohi. 273 

and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent 
army give hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose 
joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of 
this, however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be 
forgotten. 

'^ A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and 
will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder 
part gives us the cause of rejoicing be overlooked. Their 
honors must not be parcelled out with others. I myself was 
near the front, and had the pleasure of transmitting much 
of the good news to you. But no part of the honor for plan 
or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers, 
and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready, 
but was not in reach to take active part." 

The remainder of the President's address, which 
was of some length, was about the reconstruction of 
the Rebel States. He closes by saying: "In the 
present situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my 
duty to make some new announcement to the people 
of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to 
act, when satisfied that action will be proper." These 
were our dear Chief's last public words. The speech 
was unselfish to the last degree, and worthy of him. 
He disclaims, as usual, all credit to himself 

18 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The President at Breakfast. — Cabinet Meeting at the Theatre. 
— Assassination of the President by Booth. — The Presi- 
dent's Death. — Pubhc Grief and Indignation. — His 
Funeral. — Triumphal March. — Burial. — Reflections. 



JiEROES-WHO 
COULD-GREATLVJ 

A ^°^ 

AS-TH£Y- COUX,D- 
GRAUDLY-.DARE 

y\- VESTURE 
VERY-GLORIOUS 

Their- SHrNiN« 
spirits wear 
Op-noble 

DEEDS. 

GODcfVE 

U^ GRACE' 




That-we-zaay 

5££'^uqh-facet0-face- 

J In- OUR- GREAT- DAY- 
WHIC'H- COMES 
APACE " 



RIDAY morn- 
ing, the four- 
teenth of April, 
dawned upon 
us. The na- 
tion's heartwas 
still wild with 
joy. It was the 
anniversary of 
the surrender 
of Fort Sum- 
ter by Major 
Anderson. 
Arrangements 
had been made to celebrate this day. The brave 
Major was to raise again over this fortress the flag 
he had so nobly defended. The self-same tattered 



The Morning of April 14, 1865. 275 

fla^ which the Rebels compelled him to haul down 
had been preserved, and upon this day was again to 
kiss the breeze. Distinguished gentlemen were to 
be present, and every arrangement had been made 
worthy of so glorious an event. Nobody's heart was 
more devoutly thankful on this day than President 
Lincoln's. The terrible war was over, and he could 
now devote himself to the grateful task of bind- 
ing up the nation's wounds, and restoring peace and 
harmony. 

In the morning he took breakfast with his son, 
Captain Robert Lincoln, who was one of General 
Grant's staff. It was a pleasant, cheerful meal. Cap- 
tain Lincoln had witnessed the surrender of General 
Lee, and he related all the particulars to his father. 

After breakfast the President received some public 
men, and at eleven o'clock attended a cabinet meet- 
ing. General Grant, who hastened immediately from 
the field to Washington, without even looking at his 
conquered cities, was present. All the President's 
plans were warmly approved of by General Grant 
and by members of the Cabinet, and the meeting was 
very harmonious. 

After it was over, the President made arrangements 
to attend the theatre in the evening, expecting that 
General Grant would go wnth him. It was a favorite 
diversion of the President's, when very tired and 



2/6 The Childrcji's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

worn out with care, to forget for a little while his 
heavy burdens in listening to some interesting play. 
He had a pleasant talk with his wife during the day, 
and spoke with much emotion of the terrible storm 
through which he had passed, and of the bright and 
peaceful future which was dawning upon us. 

The evening came. General Grant had been 
obliged to leave town. The President was convers- 
ing with Mr, Ashmun and Mr. Colfax. He said to 
Mr. Colfax, " You are going to the theatre with Mrs. 
Lincoln and me, are you not?" Mr. Colfax said that 
his engagements would not permit. The President 
replied that he w^ould be glad to stay at home ; but 
as the audience were expecting both General Grant 
and himself, and as General Grant had left town, he 
did not like to disappoint them altogether. Thus his 
very last act was one of self denial. He consulted the 
pleasure of others rather than his own. 

About eight o'clock he got into his carriage with 
his wife, and drove to the house of Senator Harris for 
Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, when all the party 
proceeded to Ford's Theatre. The play was ** The 
American Cousin." The President entered his box, 
which was on the second floor of the theatre, and sat 
down in a high-backed rocking-chair which had been 
arranged for him ii> the corner nearest to the audi- 
ence, and which was about five feet from the door of 



Assasshiation of President Lincoln. ijj 

the box and directly in front of it. Mrs. Lincoln sat 
next to the President, at his right; Miss Harris sat 
next to Mrs. Lincohi, in the other corner of the box, 
farthest from the audience; and ]\Iajor Rathbone sat 
upon a sofa behind Miss Harris. The box was a 
double one, and a small pillar rose from the centre 
of the railing in front to the ceiling above, and was 
draped with the American flag. The door of the 
box had been left open. The President's messenger 
sat outside the box near the outer door. About 
quarter past ten o'clock John Wilkes Booth came 
along the passage-way and showed a card to this mes- 
senger. Directly after, Booth stepped into the vesti- 
bule of the President's box, shut the door, and fast- 
ened it with a plank, so that it could not be opened 
from the outside. He then went behind the Presi- 
dent's chair, drew a small silver-mounted pistol, and 
shot the Preside7it through the back of the head. The 
President uttered no cry, and did not move, except 
that he leaned slightly forward and closed his eyes. 

All in the box heard the report of the pistol and 
w^ere startled. Presently Major Rathbone saw through 
the smoke a man in the box, and attempted to seize 
him ; but Booth stabbed Major Rathbone in the 
shoulder with a long, double-edged dagger, which he 
held in his hand. As soon as Booth had disabled 
Major Rathbone, he rushed to the front of the box, 



2/8 TJie Cliildren s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

brandishing his dagger and shouting, " Sic semper 
tyrannise Then placing his hand on the raiHng of 
the box, he leaped over it to the stage beneath. 

But his spur caught in the flag on the front of the 
box, and he fell and broke his leg. He immediately 
sprang up, however, and again brandishing his dagger, 
faced the audience and exclaimed in stage tones : 
** The South is avenged.'' Then darting behind the 
scenes, he escaped through a back door, and mount- 
ing a horse which was in waiting, rode rapidly away. 

At first the audience were wholly unconscious of 
what had happened. Many supposed the pistol-shot 
was part of the play. The dreadful truth soon burst 
upon them, however, and surgeons were called. They 
quiclvly saw that the assassin's aim had been too true. 
The wonnd was mortal ! 

The President was removed to a house on the op- 
posite side of the street, and placed in bed. Mrs. 
Lincoln was led to his side, overwhelmed with grief. 
Members of the Cabinet and other distinguished 
gentlemen remained during the night. Surgeon- 
General Barnes and other physicians were also in 
attendance ; but the dear President was past mortal 
aid. The ball had entered behind the left ear, about 
three inches from it, and lodged behind the right 
eye. Probably the President was not conscious of 
a moment's suffering. After lingering through the 



The Death of President Lineoln. 279 

night, till twenty-two minutes past seven Saturday 
morning, Abraham Lincoln passed away from earth 
to his great reward in the bosom of his Father. 

While this terrible tragedy was being enacted, an- 
other almost as dreadful was going on in another 
part of the city. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, 
was lying ill from the effects of a fall from his car- 
riage. A villain called Payne rang ]\Ir. Seward's 
door-bell about ten o'clock, telling the servant who 
opened the door that he was sent by the physician 
with a prescription for Mr. Seward, and that he must 
deliver it himself. The servant told him that no one 
could see Mr. Seward. Upon that Payne quickly 
pushed the boy aside and rushed upstairs to Mr. Sew- 
ard's room. He was met on the way by Mr. Frederic 
Seward, to whom he repeated the same story. 

Payne was told that he could not enter the cham- 
ber. He then drew a pistol, and beat Mr. Frederic 
Seward about the head until he fractured his skull 
and rendered him senseless. Mr. Seward's daughter, 
who was attending her father, heard the noise and 
opened the door to see what was the matter, when 
Payne immediately rushed in. He threw himself 
upon the bed, and drawing a bowie-knife stabbed 
Mr. Seward three times. While in this murderous 
act he was seized by Mr. Robinson, the nurse. Payne 
now turned his attention to Robinson. 



28o The Childreiis Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

Mr. Seward, with great presence of mind, immedi- 
ately rolled off the farther side of the bed to the 
floor. In the mean time the colored boy had rushed 
out into the street for help, and Miss Seward was 
shrieking " Murder ! " from the window. Payne jaw 
that Mr. Seward was beyond his reach, and fearing 
he should be caught, rushed out of the house and 
made his escape. 

It is wholly impossible to describe the conflicting 
emotions which rent the nation's heart as these terri- 
ble disclosures burst upon it. At first men stood 
still, with bated breath, stunned, refusing to believe 
that anything so terrible could be true. But when 
it could no longer be doubted, a holy and righteous 
indignation, mingled with a most intense and bitter 
grief, seemed to take possession of every heart. // 
was as if a dear friend lay dead in every house. 

Strong men bowed their heads and wept. The 
people of the United States were one great family 
of mourners. All business was suspended, and all 
places of amusement w^ere closed. The flags, which 
were still waving all over the land in honor of the 
victories, were placed at half mast and draped with 
black. Scarcely a house but wore some badge of 
mourning. A more than Sabbath stillness spread 
throughout the land. 

In Washington it was feared that a dark conspiracy 



TJie Funeral of President Lincoln. 281 

was at work to destroy all the heads of the nation, 
and measures were immediately taken to protect 
persons in power from being assassinated. 

Directly after the President's death his body was 
em.jalmed, carried to the White House, and placed 
in the Green Room. There it remained until the fol- 
lowing Wednesday, the day of the funeral, when it 
was conveyed to the East Room, where the sad sol- 
emnities of the burial service took place. At twelve 
o'clock Andrew Johnson, who was now President of 
the United States, came in, followed by all the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, except Mr. Seward. Captain 
Robert Lincoln with his little brother " Tad," his 
father's pet, sat nearest to the remains ; their mother 
was too ill to leave her room. A large body of 
public men was present, together with all the diplo- 
matic corps, A guard of honor watched beside the 
bier. Dr, Hall read the Episcopal service for the 
dead. Bishop Simpson offered prayer, and Dr. Gurley 
pronounced a funeral discourse. Then Dr. Grey, 
Chaplain of the Senate, offered prayer. The sacred 
remains were then placed in a magnificent hearse, 
and by two o'clock the sad procession was ready to 
move. 

The stately train of attendants, moving to slow 
funereal music, escorted the body of our martyred 
Chief to the Capitol, which had been made ready for 



282 The CJiildrens Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

the occasion. The whole immense building, from 
the ground to the dome, was clothed in emblems of 
woe. Black crape entwined the beautiful white pil- 
lars, the windows were draped in mourning, and the 
east door, by which the great procession was to enter, 
was canopied with black. At the approach of the 
funeral car, the bands all played a mournful dirge, 
the artillery thundered forth its grand and solemn 
accompaniment, and the vast crowd stood with un- 
covered heads. While the body of the President was 
being borne into the rotunda and placed upon the 
splendid catafalque which had been prepared for it, 
Dr. Gurley recited some beautiful sentences from the 
burial service. President Johnson and several Sena- 
tors now came forward, followed by the family. The 
body-guard formed in double ranks around the 
remains. Dr. Gurley made a closing prayer and 
pronounced the benediction. 

All now left the rotunda, and a guard was stationed 
at the doors. The body of the President was thus 
tenderly and securely watched during the remainder 
of the day and night, and until nine o'clock of the 
following day. Thousands seized this opportunity 
to take a last, fond look at that beloved face. Many 
and many a wounded soldier hobbled on his crutches 
from the hospital to gaze once more upon the features 
of his late Commander-in-Chief 



The Nation Mourns, 283 

It was decided to remove the body to Springfield, 
Illinois, for burial, as that city had long been the 
President's home. At first it was arranged to have 
this done as quietly as possible, without any parade. 
But the whole nation said, " No ! " " Let us look upon 
the face of our beloved dead," was the spontaneous 
cry which arose to every lip. It seemed as if nobody 
could do honor enough to the precious dust. 

Arrangements were made for a special funeral train 
over all the roads. A magnificent funeral car was 
prepared. A guard was selected from the veteran 
reserve corps, which, with a large company of invited 
gentlemen, formed the escort. The engine and the 
train were draped in black. The rate of speed was 
restricted, and a pilot engine steamed ahead to pre- 
vent accident. Thus this great funeral procession 
passed over a distance of more than a thousand 
miles, through some of the largest cities in the 
Union. 

Crowds of people at every point of this long way 
filled every available space to catch a glimpse of the 
passing train ; and wherever it stopped long enough 
for the remains to be seen, immense gatherings such 
as few other occasions in the world ever called forth, 
assembled to gaze upon the martyred dead. The 
casket was loaded with flowers ; every house was 
draped in mourning ; flags hung at half mast ; funeral 



284 The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 

arches were erected and inscribed with appropriate 
inscriptions, and the people vied with one another in 
tributes of honor and affection. 

Thus he who Httle more than four years before was 
comparatively an unknown man, and who was obliged 
to enter Washington 171 disguise under the cover of 
nighty now went forth a mighty conqueror , his path- 
way of a thousand miles strewn with rarest flowers 
and bedewed zvith a nation's tears. 

They bore him to Springfield, his much loved 
home ; and on the fourth day of May the remains 
were consigned to their final rest in Oak Ridge 
Cemetery. 

Thus, my children, we have briefly glanced at the 
principal events in the life of Abraham Lincoln, from 
his birth to his death. We first saw him in a miser- 
able hovel, on a cold winter's day, — a little, shiver- 
ing, new-born baby. We fancied the angels must have 
presided over his birth, because his career proved to 
be so wonderful. 

His assassin, — foolish, wicked man! — prompted 
by some evil spirit, thought he should gain- immor- 
tality by his cowardly deed ; but his mutilated body 
was placed in a nameless grave before the President 
was buried. He was indeed powerless for mischief, 
for he only placed the crown of martyrdom upon our 



Mr. Lincoln's Nobility of Character. 285 



dear Chiefs brow, — all that was wanting, if indeed 
anything were wanting, to make his fame immortal. 

You have seen, my children, what made Abraham 
Lincoln great, -his incorruptible honesty, his pure- 
hearted integrity, his noble generosity, his self-sac- 
rificing spirit, and his constant, unwavering trust in 
God. These are traits that you too can all under- 
stand and cultivate. 

In this gigantic war which he carried on for four 
years, he had command of an army greater than that 
of any living monarch, he had control of immense 
sums of money, and he wielded in every respect an 
almost unlimited power; and yet no fair-minded per- 
son, even among his strongest political opponents, ever 
suspected his honesty, or charged him with trying to 
enrich himself or with acting in any way but that 
which he sincerely thought to be for the nation's 
good. It was this marvellous purity of motive that 
gave the people such confidence in him. They \vere 
not afraid to trust him to any extent with men, 
money, or power. 

And his modesty was not less remarkable; he 
never showed the least pride in his great office. He 
treated all men, even to the poor, dirty, ragged negro 
that he bowed to in the streets of Richmond, as his 
equal. All could freely approach him ; he was ready 
to hear everybody's story, and, if possible, to grant 



286 The Childrai's Life of Abraham Lincoln, 

what was asked of him. His heart was very tender. 
During the war he pardoned many and many a man 
who had been sentenced to death. Standing orders 
were given to his door-keepers to admit every mes- 
senger who came to him for the saving of hfe, no 
matter who else had to be kept waiting in conse- 
quence, even though Senators and Representatives 
went away without a hearing. 

Mr. Carpenter has related many touching instances 
of his clemency, but none more beautiful than this : 
A poor little drummer-boy, pale and dehcate, and 
only thirteen years old, came one day with many 
others to see the President. The President spied 
the little fellow in the crowd, and kindly said, 
** Come here, my boy, and tell me what you want." 
The child went up to the President, and leaning 
against his armchair, said timidly : " I have been a 
drummer-boy two years in one regiment; but my 
colonel got angry with me and turned me off. I was 
taken ill, and have been in the hospital a long while. 
To-day is the first time I have been out, and I have 
come to ask you to do something for me." 

The President inquired of the child very kindly 
where he lived. "I have no home; my father died 
in the army, and my mother, too, is dead," said the 
poor boy, bursting into tears. " I have no father, no 
mother, no brother, no sister, no home, nowhere to 




THE DRUMMER-BOY AND THE PRESIDENT. 



President Lincoln and the Drummer-Boy. 289 



go ; nobody cares for me," he sobbed in great 
distress. 

The President's eyes were full of tears ; he said 
tenderly, " Can't you sell the newspapers, my child? " 
" No," replied the boy, " I am too weak, and the 
surgeon says I must leave the hospital, and 1 have 
no money." 

The President was much affected ; he did not speak, 
but he took a card from his pocket and wrote on it 
special directions to certain officers to care for the 
poor little drumimer-boy. The child's pale face 
lighted up with a joyous and grateful smile when he 
received the card, and he felt that he had one friend 
in the world, the good President. 

There is another phase of the President's character 
of which we have said but little, — his great love of 
humor. He told an endless number of funny stories ; 
but for all that he seemed habitually sad. Mr. Car- 
penter says Mr. Lincoln's face was the saddest he 
ever painted. Rut the President had a fortunate way 
of forgetting, for a moment, the heavy burdens which 
pressed upon him, in relating or listening to some 
pleasant story. 

He was almost adored by his family. The loss of 
his little son Willie, who died at Washington, was a 
great grief to the President. The little body was 

19 



290 TJie Children s Life of Abraham Lincoln. 



placed in the funeral car by his father's side, and 
carried to Springfield. 

Time would fail us to tell the many beautiful 
things which might be said of this great man. His 
course was such as to command the respect of ah the 
nations of the earth. European halls of State were 
draped in mourning, when news of his death reached 
their shores. The Queen of England and the Em- 
press of France both wrote letters of condolence to 
Mrs. Lincoln, and mingled their tears with hers. 
Coming generations will read and marvel at his won- 
derful career, and be stirred by his tragic death. 
He died for liberty, and earned the martyr's crown. 
Among the greatest of all great names is that of 
our martyred President, Abraham Lincoln. 




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